Maps & Charts

Nimrod Glacier

Map of Antarctica by the United States Antarctic Resource Center of the US Geological Society. 1964

Pl. LXVI. MAP OF THE GLACIER SYSTEM, MOUNT RAINIER, WASHINGTON

U.S. Geological Service, 1908

source file: 1750x1404

A Portuguese portolan nautical chart detailing the coasts of western Europe, part of north-western Africa and the eastern corner of present day Newfoundland, Canada.

Pedro Reinel, c. 1504

Portolan charts are navigational maps based on realistic descriptions of harbours and coasts. They were first made in the 14th century in Italy, Portugal and Spain. With the advent of the Age of Discovery, they were considered State secrets in Portugal and Spain, very valuable in the description of Atlantic and Indian coastlines for newcomer English and Dutch raiding, and later trading, ships. The word portolan comes from the Italian adjective portolano, meaning "related to ports or harbours." -wikipedia

Map of the Strait of Magellan

Jodocus   Hondius, 1606

The geographic details for the map of the Straits of Magellan came from Bernardus Joannis Monasteriensis[?] who had participated in the first Dutch expedition to sail through the Straits in 1599-1600. The map was printed from a copper plate engraved by Lambert Cornelisz in 1606. Made prior to the confirmation of a route around Tierra del Fuego, the Strait was, at that time, the only passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Controlled by the Dutch, exorbitant fees were charged for the passage.

The map is oriented with South at the top as indicated by an elaborate compass rose. On the left (East) is the “Mar del Nort,” with one ship exiting the Eastern end of the Strait and a Dutch fleet on the right (west) sailing in the Mar del Zur. At the top is “Tierre Del Fuogo.” Except for mountains lining the shore and six named bays along the Strait, Tierra del Fuego is truly a terra incognita. The amorphous island actually fades away as it reaches the border of the map. “America Pars” defines the map's lower land mass. The Strait snakes between the two, lined with numbers indicating the varying depth of the water. More...

The History of Science Fiction, ver. 1 (54" X 30"), Ward Shelley, 2011

wardshelley.com: "History of Science Fiction" is a graphic chronology that maps the literary genre from its nascent roots in mythology and fantastic stories to the somewhat calcified post-Star Wars space opera epics of today. The movement of years is from left to right, tracing the figure of a tentacled beast, derived from H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds Martians. Science Fiction is seen as the offspring of the collision of the Enlightenment (providing science) and Romanticism, which birthed gothic fiction, source of not only SciFi, but crime novels, horror, westerns, and fantasy (all of which can be seen exiting through wormholes to their own diagrams, elsewhere). Science fiction progressed through a number of distinct periods, which are charted, citing hundreds of the most important works and authors. Film and television are covered as well.

Map of the Earth's Moon, 1880, Johann Georg Justus Perthes

This hand coloured map depicts the Moon; All major craters, seas, and other physical features. Published in Stieler’s Hand Atlas, 1880.

Siege of Kandahar (Afghanistan) 1737. Manuscript map. - National library of Sweden.

The siege of Kandahar was a conflict between the ruler of Iran, Nader Shah, and the Afghan Hotaki dynasty that took place between April 1737 and March 1738. Much of the duration of the siege saw little fighting as Nader's forces' lack of heavy artillery forced them to settle into a blockade of Kandahar. As the Iranians became more impatient, they made several attempts to take the city by storm but the Afghans defiantly repulsed these attempts. On March 25, 1738 the city surrendered.

1507 - Waldseemüller map is the first map to include the name "America" and the first to depict the Americas as separate from Asia. There is only one surviving copy of the map, which was purchased by the Library of Congress in 2001 for $10 million.

‘Terra Nova’ (the Americas) by Martin Waldseemüller, 1513. Note that South America is unnamed and is simply left as terra incognita.

The countryside around Milan. Made during pastoral visits of Charles Borromeo, around 1566, in the parishes of Segrate and Cesano.

Map of the Caspian Sea and Kamchatka, 1725, Johann Baptist Homann

One of Homann's most interesting and influential maps, this 1725 map depicts the Caspian Sea and the Peninsula of Kamchatka. Essentially two maps in one, Homann here juxtaposes two opposite parts of Asia: the Caspian Sea, which forms part the western border of Asia and Europe, and the Peninsula of Kamchatka, the easternmost known point in continental Asia. More on this map at Wikipedia Commons.

Pan American World Airways, World Air Routes, 1955

The Piri Reis map is a pre-modern world map compiled in 1513 from military intelligence by the Ottoman-Turkish admiral and cartographer Piri Reis. The half of the map that survives shows the western coasts of Europe and North Africa and the coast of Brazil with reasonable accuracy. Various Atlantic islands including the Azores and Canary Islands are depicted, as is the mythical island of Antillia and possibly Japan. The historical importance of the map lies in its demonstration of the extent of exploration of the New World by approximately 1510, perhaps before others. It used 10 Arabian sources, 4 Indian maps sourced from Portuguese and one map of Columbus. Source: Wikipedia

Illuminated Manuscript Map of Western hemisphere within a windrose, from Book on Navigation, Walters Art Museum Ms. W.658, fol.24b

Originally composed in 932 AH / 1525 CE and dedicated to Sultan Süleyman I ("The Magnificent"), this great work by Piri Reis (d. 962 AH / 1555 CE) on navigation was later revised and expanded. The present manuscript, made mostly in the late 11th AH / 17th CE century, is based on the later expanded version with some 240 exquisitely executed maps and portolan charts. They include a world map (fol.41a) with the outline of the Americas, as well as coastlines (bays, capes, peninsulas), islands, mountains and cities of the Mediterranean basin and the Black Sea. The work starts with the description of the coastline of Anatolia and the islands of the Aegean Sea, the Peloponnese peninsula and eastern and western coasts of the Adriatic Sea. It then proceeds to describe the western shores of Italy, southern France, Spain, North Africa, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, western Anatolia, various islands north of Crete, Sea of Marmara, Bosporus and the Black Sea. It ends with a map of the shores of the the Caspian Sea (fol.374a).

source

Arab manuscript showing the Caspian Sea. Composed in Egypt during the first half of the 11th century. The geographical references are largely inspired by the work of Ptolemy, but the manuscript also contains references to previously unknown works as well.

This map is from A History Of Peeblesshire (Tweeddale, Scotland), by William Chambers of Glenormiston.  Chambers gives credit for the map to Timothy Pont who surveyed the county in 1608.  It was originally included in Blaev's Atlas [of Scotland] that was published in 1654.