Assignment:
Until recently historians read maps as evidence of where Europeans had explored and therefore focused on how maps became “better” over the course of time. As J. B. Harley notes in his article, now historians read maps to tell us about the mapmakers themselves. Maps give us a glimpse into what Europeans expected or hoped to find in America, what they tried to erase or ignore, and what they were trying to convince their audience in Europe about the New World. Write two to three pages analyzing any map produced before 1700 found in the databases on the course web site. What does the map teach us about European perspectives of the New World at the particular date of the map’s production? Although it is not required, you may check out the article by Gregory Nobles as a helpful example of a historian analyzing maps.
Include a printout of the map if possible with your paper.