Maps and Mapmaking

MAPS AND MAPMAKING

MAPS AND MAPMAKING. Maps are inextricably linked to how humans know the world as well as to the means by which spatial relationships can be depicted with specific tools and techniques. Thus, the history of cartography in the United States reflects human history—exploration, political change, and wars as well as technological change from designing maps on bark and vellum to creating cartographic displays with computers. The history of cartography in America is a history of making spatial knowledge visible.

Native American Maps

Any discussion of cartography in America must begin with the maps created and used by the peoples indigenous to North America. Native Americans did not have a system of writing like their European contemporaries, but they possessed meticulous methods for keeping records. These were almost entirely oral systems that depended on human memory to pass knowledge between generations. Although the first maps of America are typically considered European in origin, historians have demonstrated that these maps could have only been created with Native American assistance.

The first testament to this cartographic knowledge is documented in a story concerning an interview between the king of Portugal and Columbus in 1493. The records speak of the Native Americans who made the return trip to Europe with Columbus and who accompanied him to visit the king. The king, trying to determine just where Columbus had ventured, questioned one of the Native Americans and had him assemble a map of the Caribbean region with dried beans. The Native American cartographer expertly clustered the beans to represent Cuba and Hispaniola and used single beans to depict the smaller Bahamas and Lesser Antilles. The king asked a second Native American to do the same; he reassembled the bean map and added even more detail to the region than the first. A detailed map published in a 1511 book by Peter Martyr (in Seville) is indicative of the influence of Native American knowledge. The map depicts areas and coastlines that, at the date of publication, had yet to be traversed by Europeans. This map remains the first printed Spanish map showing any part of the Americas.

Several European cartographers noted the influence of Native American spatial knowledge on their maps. Samuel de Champlain created a map of the New England and Nova Scotia coasts in 1607. This map, now in the Library of Congress, is thought to be "one of the great cartographical treasures of America." On his survey trip near present-day Cape Ann in Massachusetts, Champlain encountered a group of Native Americans and asked them to show how the coast trended. The Native Americans took a piece of charcoal and drew a large bay, now known as Massachusetts Bay. Additionally, they drew a long river with shoals, which represented the Merrimac River. This indigenous knowledge is reflected by Champlain's beautiful chart drawn on vellum with outlines in brown ink. Captain John Smith, Virginia's first published cartographer, attributed much to native cartographers and informants.

Early Mapping of America by Europeans

Early European maps of America were often used as documents of power, denoting areas of control. Cartography at this time, however, was an inexact science and most of the early European maps of the Americas were based on relatively few explorations. Many of them depended almost entirely on Native American knowledge. Although it is thought that several maps of the New World were made before 1500, none have been authenticated. The most widely accepted "first map" of North America is known as the "Portolan World Chart" (1500, Juan de la Cosa). Many historians identify Juan de la Cosa as a Basque cartographer who accompanied Columbus on his first two voyages. Another important early map was that of Martin Waldseemüller in 1507 titled "Universalis Cosmographic." Two aspects are of note concerning this woodcut world map. First, Waldseemüller was the first to depict the land reached by Columbus as an entirely new continent, not attached in any way to Asia. Second, it is the earliest known work to label "America" as part of the New World.

At that time, most geographers continued to see the world as described by Ptolemy's (120–150 a.d.) Geographia and struggled to incorporate new knowledge of locations in the Western Hemisphere. It was not until the late 1500s that cartography began to challenge the supremacy of Ptolemy's worldview, mainly due to the greater understanding of locations in the New World. Two important atlases published in Europe reflect the changing worldview. Abraham Ortelius compiled new maps of the world based on contemporary charts and maps in his "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum" in 1570. A significant map in this collection was his "New Description of America or the New World." Fifteen years later, Gerardus Mercator's collection of 107 maps clearly signified a new view of the world invoking a new map projection that was essentially for navigation. The Wytfliet altas of 1597 was the first atlas dedicated exclusively to the Americas, with 19 copper-engraved maps.

Many of the early maps were either hand drawn or created using the Chinese technique of xylography (wood block printing), which allowed maps to be reproduced mechanically. Wood block printing was the most common method through the fifteenth century because it was relatively inexpensive. Early in the 1400s, however, calcography was invented. This method involved incising lines on a copper surface rather than carving them in wood. The engraving tool created finer lines, thereby depicting a more detailed image. This engraving process changed with the addition of a wax coating on the copper. The map was sketched lightly onto the copper through the wax and then the plate was dipped into nitric acid. The acid would not permeate the wax, but, rather, would etch the copper that had been left exposed.

Although some maps of this time were in color, most of this was done with hand tinting after the printing process. Map coloring was, for many of the period, a hobby, and manuals were produced that detailed the process. An interesting outcome of these manuals was the prescription of some "traditional" cartographic conventions such as representing political boundaries with dotted lines and symbolizing major cities with red circles.

Colonial Mapping

Colonial rivalries played out cartographically in the New World. To celebrate the Dutch recapture of New Amsterdam (New York) from the English in 1673, Hugo Allard created the "New and Exact Map of All New Netherland." Other colonial period maps were used to depict the extent of control in North America, such as Guillaume Delisle's "Carte de la Lousiiane et du Cours du Mississipi" (1718), which showed the Mississippi Valley and delta region as possessions of France totally surrounded by British settlement. Another example is William Popple's (1733) twenty-sheet "Map of the British Empire in America with the French and Spanish Settlements adjacent thereto," which reflected the extent of known North America and the degree to which Britain controlled it.

The year 1755 is known as a year of great maps. Considered the most notable map of this year was John Mitchell's "A Map of the British and French Dominions in North America with the Roads, Distances, Limits, and Extent of the Settlements." Essentially, this map served as a rebuttal to French boundary claims in the New World. The information used to create the map was as sophisticated as possible for the day, with latitude determined with the quadrant and longitude remaining slightly less precise. This map was taken to the Treaty of Paris in 1783 and was used well into the twentieth century to resolve boundary disputes. Because of its accuracy in depiction of locations and its completeness, it is often noted by cartographic historians as the most important map in the history of American cartography.

Mapping the New Nation

The first map compiled, engraved, and completed by an American was Abel Buell's (1784) "A New and Correct Map of the United States of North America Layd down from the latest Observations and best Authority agreeable to the Peace of 1783." This map, in many ways, represents the end of an era. By the early 1800s, cartography had begun to move from works of art based on geographic knowledge to works of science based on known geographic fact. Earlier maps, often incorrect, were no longer tolerated; too many people had knowledge of the world. Beginning in the early 1800s, maps became quite similar in appearance, often seen as a triumph of science over art.

Cartography During the Nineteenth Century

By 1800, several atlases of the new nation had already been created (The American Pilot, 1792, and Casey's American Atlas, 1795). However, the publication of Henry Schenk Tanner's New American Atlas (1823) indicated a change in cartography now based on rigorous scientific surveying. Surveyors used distinct color and uniform symbology, indicated cultural features, and retained the "received" names of places. This atlas marks the first comprehensive analytical compilation of American cartographic data, and maps of each state were of a uniform size and scale.

There are several notable maps in the history of American cartography in the first half of the nineteenth century. William Maclure's 1809 map, considered by many as the origin of thematic cartography, depicts the known geology of the United States imprinted over a topographic map. Exploration maps such as "Lewis and Clark's Track Across the Western Portion of North America…" (1814) greatly enhanced knowledge of the continent. The earliest American publication of an ethnographic map was Albert Gallatin's (1836) representation of Native Americans classified by linguistic family. Elias Loomis's maps, many designed during the 1840s, are considered to be the earliest maps based entirely on scientific data. Considered the origin of weather maps, most of these depict meteorological phenomena.

Between 1814 and 1830, a revolution occurred in the printing of maps. Lithography was a new printing technology that was based on the chemical repellence of oil and water. Instead of an image being cut into a plate, maps were drawn with greasy ink or crayons on a specially prepared stone. The stone was then moistened with water (repelled in the areas with greasy ink) and the printing ink was rolled onto the stone, adhering to only the mapped (inked) areas. The map was then made by pressing the paper against the inked drawing. Lithography significantly lowered the cost and increased the speed of map production. A few years later, wax engraving (cerography) began to have a large influence on American cartography. The map image was engraved on wax rather than on copper or stone. This image was then used to create a mold on a thin metal plate that could be used on a letterpress printing machine. With this method, type could be inserted in the wax mold rather than engraving each letter by hand. These two new printing processes, along with the lower cost of wood pulp paper and a shift in production from individual maps to maps published in sets based on systematic surveying and mapping, dramatically increased the number and use of maps in the United States.

During the second half of the 1800s, maps were designed for development, population statistics, war, ownership, health, westward expansion, and protection of property. County maps were commercially produced to show land ownership by 1850. Notable and widely used maps were those of the Sanborn Map and Publishing Company (begun in 1865). These large-scale maps depicted the locations and dimensions of buildings and included the structural materials of each in order for insurance companies to determine fire risk. General Land Office Maps standardized the format and content of maps. During the Civil War (1861–1865), map accuracy was critical. Many of the topographic maps of the southeastern United States made during the war were used well into the twentieth century because of their high level of accuracy. A uniquely American cartographic form emerged after the Civil War. Panoramic views of U.S. cities using an oblique perspective became a common and popular map form that lasted into the early twentieth century. A map representing the distribution of slave population in 1860 is often noted as the first map of census data in the United States. Rand McNally, a small commercial printing firm at the time, found that their addition of small strip maps to accompany their railroad guide became enormously popular. By 1874, the First Statistical Atlas of the United States was published. This prompted an increase in thematic and statistical maps that incorporated more diverse political and social data. By this time, physicians began using cartographical-statistical methods to document diffusion and distribution of major epidemics of tuberculosis, pneumonia, malaria, and typhoid fever. By 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) had mapped the entire nation by quadrilateral tracts. The initial scale of these maps was 1:250,000. The USGS maps used standardized symbology, colors, and place names. The simplified cartographic design made the maps accessible to the general public.

Published at the turn of the century (1898), The Statistical Atlas of the United States Based on the Results of the Eleventh Census represents the most comprehensive and analytical cartography in the United States to date. This atlas incorporated four main thematic mapping methods that were devised during the nineteenth century: dot maps (uniform symbols represent a quantity), choropleth maps (different shadings represent different values in different areas), flow lines (indicate direction and amount of a flow), and graduated symbols (varying sizes of symbols represent different values).

Twentieth-Century Cartography

A significant change in transportation from rail to automobiles in the early part of the twentieth century influenced the demand for practical and accurate road maps and prompted a boom in commercial cartography. In the academic world, the Hart American History Series of maps (1918–1921) reflected the influence of James Harvey Robinson's emphasis on "totality" in historical study in his New History (1916). Additionally, a significant volume, C. O. Paulin's Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, compiled more than 600 maps documenting American history.

Scientific mapping techniques were well established by the beginning of the twentieth century. A national inventory of soils by county was undertaken by the U.S. Department of agriculture in order to assist American farmers. By 1940, there were well over 1,500 maps just depicting different aspects of soils in the United States. This type of survey was a common "New Deal" government practice during which time there was an enormous expansion in maps of the United States, representing statistics such as population, manufacturing, climate, agriculture, and urban housing conditions.

Many changes in cartographic techniques evolved during the twentieth century. Representing the earth's third dimension had always been a cartographic challenge. Erwin Raisz's "Physiographic Provinces of North America" was published in 1939, and demonstrated a realistic depiction of relief through numerous physiographic symbols that he developed. Aerial photography, a technique employed in both world wars of the twentieth century, influenced mapping dramatically by allowing cartographers to view the earth from a planar perspective (the perspective of most maps) for the first time. Three-dimensional terrain models and negative scribing both had their roots in war as well and contributed to advances in cartographic techniques in midcentury.

However, it is the period from 1950 to 1990 that is classified as revolutionary in cartography, with numerous innovations and developments for representing spatial relationships. During the 1950s, air photos and maps were merged to create what is now known as orthophoto maps. On these maps, traditional map symbols are placed on rectified air photos. In the early 1960s, Howard Fisher, a Harvard sociologist, developed a mapping technique known as SYMAP that used an early computer to create maps depicting density data. Computer cartographic techniques made mapping quicker and more accurate. Data sources such as rectified air photos, satellite images (early 1970s), and digital databases all helped to usher in a new period in cartography in the United States. Mapping software based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) created a system in which spatial data and attribute data could be linked. This new method of managing spatial data permitted numerous different maps to be created for just one specific purpose rather than as a general map meeting many needs. By the end of the twentieth century, people could access data and mapping software via the Internet to create a map of nearly any place and show any available statistical relationship. Additionally, virtual maps have allowed cartographers to show temporal relationships, how places have changed over time. No longer do maps show a frozen moment in time. By using animation techniques, cartography is reaching into new areas of research called cartographic visualization. The National Atlas of the United States exemplifies the rapid change in cartography during the last thirty years of the twentieth century. Initially a huge volume of 765 maps representing the history of cartography in America (1970), by 2001 it was available online with an infinite number of maps available to each individual user.

Cartography has experienced dramatic change in methodology and presentation from the Columbian encounter to present day. Once created as ornate works of art by specially trained individuals, maps by the end of the twentieth century could be created by anyone with access to data and mapping software. Maps, however, remain representations of reality. Maps represent how individuals see and interpret the world, whether they are maps from the 1500s on vellum or those that animate on a computer screen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

De Vorsey, Louis Jr. "Silent Witnesses: Native American Maps." Georgia Review (1992): 709–726.

Portinaro, Pierluigi, and Franco Knirsch. The Cartography of North America, 1500–1800. New York: Facts on File, 1987.

Schwartz, Seymour I., and Ralph E. Ehrenberg. The Mapping of America. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1980.

Thrower, Norman J. W. Maps and Civilization: Cartography in Culture and Society. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.

Tooley, R. V., and Charles Bricker. Landmarks of Mapmaking. Ware, Hertfordshire, U.K.: Wordsworth Press, 1989.

Janet S. Smith d