Historical Maps

Unexploded WWII Bombs
Sixty-eight years after the Blitz, there are still thousands of unexploded German bombs littering the British landscape, and they’re still being dug up. Now a map of likely unexploded bomb locations has been released, with locations extrapolated from historical records… »
1
Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 7:09 AM
Categories: Historical Maps
Lights Out for the Electric Map
Like many large map installations, the Electric Map of the Battle of Gettysburg has gone the way of the dodo. The 30×30-foot map has been illustrating troop movements during the battle using more than 600 light bulbs since it opened… »
Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 5:14 PM
Categories: Big Maps, Historical Maps
The Atlas of Early Printing
The Atlas of Early Printing “depicts the spread of printing through Europe in the fifty years following the European refinement of the tools and process to make impressions from movable type cast in metal” (i.e., 1450-1500). Via Very Spatial…. »
Posted on Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 1:01 PM
Categories: Historical Maps
Historical Atlas of Canada
The huge Historical Atlas of Canada was published in three volumes between 1987 and 1993. An online version, the Historical Atlas of Canada Online Learning Project, is now being developed by the University of Toronto’s geography department. It would… »
Posted on Friday, February 15, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Categories: Books, Historical Maps
NARP Amtrak System Maps
The National Association of Railroad Passengers, a passenger rail lobby group, has a collection of maps showing the change in Amtrak route coverage since the national rail carrier was created in 1971. The PDF maps are rather basic, and show… »
Posted on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 at 7:31 PM
Categories: Historical Maps, Railroads
Mapping the History of the New York Subway
An animated map depicting the history of the New York subway: “[a]n animated GIF starts with a blank subway map and draws each line in the sequence in which it was built.” For more maps showing the history of New… »
Posted on Monday, September 24, 2007 at 8:42 PM
Categories: Antique Maps, Historical Maps, Mass Transit, New York
Historical Hurricane Maps
NOAA now has an online tool that maps historical hurricane tracks. You can also compare storm tracks against coastal population data. Data are available for storms as far back as the mid-19th century, and they’re exportable: tracks are also downloadable… »
Posted on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 7:16 AM
Categories: Historical Maps, Weather & Climate
A Book Roundup
Much book-related news has been accumulating over here; past time I shared it. Surveying, Mapping and GIS reviews Dava Sobel’s Longitude, a book about John Harrison, who discovered how to determine longitude. I think I need to read this book…. »
Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at 2:57 PM
Categories: Antique Maps, Astronomy, Books, Cartography, Google Earth, Historical Maps
Historical Atlas of Oklahoma
The Norman Transcript reports on the publication next month of the fourth edition of the Historical Atlas of Oklahoma; unfortunately (for our purposes), the article focuses on the essays rather than the maps (173 of them), which are dispensed… »
Posted on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 at 8:38 AM
Categories: Books, Historical Maps
Mapping Medieval Towns
Mapping the Medieval Urban Landscape was a two-year project to study the design and planning of towns in the Middle Ages for which historical records no longer exist. The project, which focused on a dozen of Edward I’s “new… »
Posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 at 11:57 AM
Categories: Historical Maps
Atlas of Alberta Railways
The Atlas of Alberta Railways is a collection of historical maps showing the development of railroad lines in Alberta (and western Canada); there are more than 200 maps available through a surprisingly good Flash interface. This is not a collection… »
Posted on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 at 1:08 PM
Categories: Historical Maps, Railroads
Link Roundup for January 21
A clickable map of Tlingit tribes, clans and clan houses in the Pacific Northwest. Via Plep. MapPoint B2B on the future of MSN Maps and Directions, viz., none: “The time has come to say good-bye to MSN Maps and Directions… »
Posted on Saturday, January 21, 2006 at 7:50 AM
Categories: Books, Historical Maps, Online Maps, Satellite & Aerial, Software
London WWII Bomb Damage Maps
During World War Two, London County Council kept maps showing the damage caused to the city by German bombs. They did it by hand-colouring Ordnance Survey maps, each colour representing a certain amount of damage. Now, the BBC reports, the… »
Posted on Friday, July 15, 2005 at 10:35 AM
Categories: Books, Historical Maps, London
Engineering Timelines
The Engineering Timelines Map of the British Isles assembles maps with points depicting events in the history of British engineering generated from search results. I’m having a hard time grasping the concept, much less explaining it, but play around with… »
Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 9:26 PM
Categories: Historical Maps
Growth of a Nation
This ten-minute animated presentation depicts the growth and territorial development of the U.S. since 1789; with audio. It’s one of several similar products from Animated Atlas aimed at classroom use; the others, though, cost money. Via Kottke…. »
Posted on Wednesday, July 6, 2005 at 3:42 PM
Categories: Education, Historical Maps
1946 U.S. Railroad Atlas, Volume Two
Last year I covered the first volume in Richard Carpenter’s series of historical railroad atlases covering the United States in 1946. I actually got it for Christmas last year: because I’m not familiar with the mid-Atlantic states the first volume… »
Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2005 at 3:11 PM
Categories: Books, Historical Maps, Railroads
Ireland’s History in Maps
Ireland’s History in Maps has a genealogical focus; the maps aren’t first rate, but they’re informative. Via Plep…. »
Posted on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 12:30 PM
Categories: Historical Maps
Ancient Routes
Ancient Routes, “[a] site devoted to exploring the ancient trade routes around the Mediterranean,” has a few maps of said trade routes, mostly of the Middle East. Via MetaFilter, again…. »
Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 at 10:03 AM
Categories: Historical Maps
World War II Maps
A collection of contemporary, black and white World War II maps, provided by the University of San Diego’s History department. Informative: some of the maps cover less-famous theatres of war. Via The Cartoonist…. »
Posted on Saturday, November 20, 2004 at 4:10 PM
Categories: Historical Maps
The BBC’s “Civilisations”
The BBC’s Civilisations is a Flash-based interactive map that shows the rise and fall of empires and civilizations: select the cultures and the speed, press play, and watch the map change as the years go by. (I’m reminded of the… »
Posted on Tuesday, October 5, 2004 at 4:38 PM
Categories: Historical Maps, Maps Online
Historical and Political Maps of the Modern Age
This ambitious Spanish site presents historical maps of the modern period, with the goal of showing the changes in territorial boundaries. It looks like it’s a long way from being complete, but promising nonetheless…. »
Posted on Sunday, October 3, 2004 at 12:02 PM
Categories: Historical Maps
Maps of the Islamic World
A University of Pennsylvania professor has posted a collection of scans from historical atlases of the Muslim world. Via Politics, Language and Cultures of the Arab World, via Languagehat…. »
Posted on Tuesday, September 7, 2004 at 7:49 AM
Categories: Historical Maps
British Historical Maps
Part of a site on medieval art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh, this page of British maps features scans from a 1929 historical atlas. Warning: large file sizes. Via Plep…. »
Posted on Monday, August 16, 2004 at 9:33 PM
Categories: Historical Maps
Boccaccio’s Decameron
“Continuing my crusade to provide you with the finest fictional maps,” says Jeff Patterson, who provides us with a link to Maps of Boccaccio’s Decameron. It’s part of a study site on that work of medieval literature; includes maps from… »
Posted on Wednesday, June 16, 2004 at 9:49 AM
Categories: Antique Maps, Historical Maps
1946 U.S. Railroad Atlas
This month’s Fast Company has a profile of Richard Carpenter, who has published the first volume of his Railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946. The maps are hand-drawn and hand-lettered; the article provides fascinating details about their creation…. »
Posted on Monday, February 9, 2004 at 10:17 AM
Categories: Books, Historical Maps, Railroads

Note: Entries from 2003 were not categorized and will not appear in the category archives. Please consult the monthly archives.