r/oldmaps • u/realstours2011 • 18h ago
r/oldmaps • u/LoloLupulo • 3h ago
Life Zones of Washington 1953
Found at the thrift store folded up in a 1953 Birds of Washington State book. Not the oldest map, but it was a fun find and I can’t find any information about it. Assuming it was just distributed with this book.
r/oldmaps • u/StephenMcGannon • 1d ago
The Babylonian Map of the World, a Neo-Babylonian clay tablet depicting Mesopotamia surrounded by a circular ocean. (8th century BC)
r/oldmaps • u/TR3B-999 • 2d ago
map of the North Polar regions 1595.(Arctic map) Septentrionalium Terrarum descriptio. Per Gerardum Mercatorem Cum Privilegio
Frisland on the main map and also as an inset. This island originated from the Zeno map, which Mercator had also used in his 1569 world map. That map is also the inspiration for the outline of Greenland as shown here. The story goes that Nicolo Zeno set off in 1380 for England and Flanders. He adventured in northern waters for decades before eventually returning to his native Venice, where he died around 1403. While away, Nicolo and his brother, Antonio, were supposedly in the service of King Zichmi of the island of Frisland. News of the discoveries and the first version of the Zeno map was published in 1558 by another Nicolo Zeno, a descendent of the navigator brothers. Nicolo the Younger published letters he had found in his family holdings, one from Nicolo to Antonio and another from Antonio to their other brother, Carlo, who served with distinction in the Venetian Navy. They were published under the title Dello Scoprimento dell’isole Frislanda, Eslanda, Engrouelanda, Estotilanda, & Icaria, fatto sotto il Polo Artico, da due Fratelli Zeni (On the Discovery of the Island of Frisland, Eslanda, Engroenland, Estotiland & Icaria, made by two Zen Brothers under the Arctic Pole) (Venice: Francesco Marcolini, 1558)." (Ruderman) At the time of publication, the account attracted little to no suspicion; it was no more and no less fantastic than most other voyage and travel accounts of the time. Girolamo Ruscelli published a version of the Zeno map in 1561, only three years after it appeared in Zeno’s original work. Mercator then used the map as a source for his 1569 world map and for this map of the North Pole. Ortelius used the Zeno islands in his map of the North Atlantic. Ramusio included them in his Delle Navigationo (1583), as did Hakluyt in his Divers Voyages (1582) and Principal Navigations (1600), and Purchas (with some reservation) in his Pilgrimes (1625). Frisland appeared on regional maps of the North Atlantic until the eighteenth century. Today the Zeno Map is by and large accepted as a fabrication. Mercator’s four polar islands were abandoned by colleagues by the 1630s, while the supposed Northwest Passage managed to elude explorers until recently. No matter its accuracy, and perhaps because of the fascinating details it contains, this first stand-alone map of the North Pole is a cartographic milestone and would make up an important part of any Arctic collection.
Burden, 88; Shirley, 119; Chat Van Duzer, “The Mythic Geography of the Northern Polar Regions: Inventio fortunata and Buddhist Cosmology”, Culturas Populares. Revista Electronica 2 (2006); Edward Brooke-Hitching, The Phantom Atlas: The Greatest Myths, Lies and Blunders on Maps (London: Simon & Schuster, 2016); Richard I. Ruggles, “The Cartographic Lure of the Northwest Passage: Its Real and Imaginary Geography,” in Meta Incognita: A Discourse of Discovery; Martin Frobisher’s Arctic Expeditions, 1576-1578, edited by Thomas H. B. Symons (Hull, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999), vol. I, 179-256.
r/oldmaps • u/Correct_Advisor8817 • 2d ago
Old Chinese Map
I have had this map for years and am not sure where it is. Maybe Peking? Any scholars out there who can read the old script?
r/oldmaps • u/341Celsius_To_Boil • 4d ago
Does anyone have a clean version of the Tabula Rogeriana?
Im doing an project and i need a high-quality version of the Tabula Rogeriana with no labels or landmarks, just the rivers, mountains, etc. Does anyone have one, or know where I can find one?
r/oldmaps • u/elnovorealista2000 • 4d ago
Map of the Argentine Republic from 1887, reissued in 1888—from the "Atlas Geográfico de la República Argentina" by Mariano Felipe Paz Soldán—held at the Felix Lajouane bookstore in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
During the presidency of Nicolás Avellaneda, on October 11, 1878, Law 954 established the Governorship of the National Territory of Patagonia, spanning “from the ocean in the east to the mountain range in the west, and from the Negro and Neuquén rivers in the north to Cape Horn in the south.”
The Governorship of Patagonia—or the National Territory of Patagonia—was a region administered by the federal government of Argentina; it existed from that date until October 16, 1884.
r/oldmaps • u/Witty-Tangerine3606 • 4d ago
My hobby project became a source of income
I originally built ChronoAtlas as a fun side project because of my passion for history. I started to get paid subscriptions from real teachers.
Schools are now using chronoAtlas for educational purposes (the map view and being able to have a kahoot like history session with your class) and I have even received messages from treasure hunters who use it for their research
You have the ability to walk through a fully 3D roman senate and debate historical motions. You can also explore historical events through an interactive timeline (the map)
For the next major update, I am planning to introduce a fully walkable 3D environment for every historical event.
It's going to be expensive to build and maintain, but I love this project. If it helps make history more accessible, engaging, and exciting for education, it's worth every bit of effort and even my own money I have put in for the last two years
r/oldmaps • u/Hammer_Price • 10d ago
An 1827 Map of (the Island of) Hawaii by William Ellis sold at Trillium on Oct 2-3 for $1,926. Reported by Rare Book Hub.
Lot 4421 info from catalog notes:
This historic engraving is from William Ellis’s Narrative of a tour Through Hawaii, or Owhyhee; With Observations On The Natural History of the Sandwich Islands, and Remarks on the Manners, Customs, Traditions, History, and Language of their Inhabitants.
This (map) is from the third, expanded edition published in London by H. Fisher in 1827.
"The Narrative of English missionary William Ellis is particularly important, as it was the first book written about the Hawaiian Islands and the first serious notice of the islands since Captain Cook’s discovery of them forty-eight years earlier.
It may be called the first scientific book (primarily about the island of) Hawaii: although its main purpose was to report on mission progress, and Ellis was primarily interested in local manners and traditions, he was sufficiently expansive to include observations on such natural and cultural history topics as volcanoes, antiquities, and the anthropology of the islands." (Hill 191)
William Ellis (1794-1872) was a British missionary and writer. He set up the first printing press in the South Seas. He also printed the first Hawaiian book in 1823, a hymnal.
Paper Size: ~ 8 1/2" by 10 1/8"
Paper Type or Special Features: Engraving
NB The price paid for the map, taken out of a copy of the book, not the whole book.