Map of The Ceded Part of the Dakota Territory 1861 by Smith, B.M and Hill, A.J.
This map shows the Dakota Territory in the United States while it was still in development as pioneers migrated West. First of all, we can see that the Dakota Territory is one coherent place, instead of two South and North states, like it is today. This map only shows roads and towns and other political boundaries like that. It doesn’t show many physical features besides rivers, which are often used for navigation. For pioneers at the time, transportation from town to town was very important. Knowing when the next major town was, would help with knowing how long one had to go without food or shelter or gaining more supplies. This map shows the important stops, routes and places for a traveller to take note of. It also displays the lack of concentrated cities in the Dakota territory. Everything is equally populated more or less, since there isn’t any visible major city on the map, which reflects how empty and spread out west America was at this point. Most of it had not been discovered and was free wilderness inhabited by native americans. This map shows no political boundaries of Native American lands, which shows the perspective it’s written from. It was not written with Native Americans in mind, so it was probably for the purpose of western expansion. This map shows the development, exploration and mystery of Western America during this time period.
Sketch Map of New South Wales 1876 by Taylor J.
This map shows South Wales which is in Europe. This map shows mineral deposits of South Wales, including a list of gold fields. 1876 was during the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Countries were finding ways to make money fast to improve their economy and the lives of common people. During this time, Wales would be encouraging immigration because the more people in their country, the more workers. The more workers in their factories, the more product they’re able to make and the more money. This map would be attractive towards anyone thinking of moving to Wales to make money. It was made to attract tourists and/or people wanting to move somewhere. Wales would benefit from this because these new immigrants would provide money for the economy working their new jobs. This map also displays cost of living, climate characteristics and other factors that would play into an immigrant’s decision. It’s more so an advertisement than a map. It wouldn’t do much help in terms of navigation. But since, at this point, Europe was already well established and populated, it wasn’t like people needed to know how to navigate it. American maps from this time show routes and towns and trails because people were still discovering the land and exploring. This map displays the spirit of the Industrial Revolution. Almost everything was rooted in making money and expanding the economy. Since Europe had grown somewhat stagnant with immigration because of how long it had been densely populated (compared to America), the sudden spark in new technology and motivation to mass produce and distribute almost reshaped Europe in the same way the religious reformations encouraged immigration from different religious kingdoms. Wales caught onto this, and made this map to use for their advantage.
World Map by Ptolemy 1478
This map is extremely interesting. It is a map of 'the world', or what the world was in 1478. Columbus had not discovered America yet, so it's whereabouts were unknown. There was Europe, Asia, and Africa, but that was it. This map reflects that. It also shows great sophistication in geography by how the map is curved realistically as a world map should be if it is to be mathematically correct. It's obvious the map was written from a European perspective, because of how dense and detailed Europe looks, while Africa and East Asia are pretty vacant and empty. This is similar to how culture was at the point in the eyes of a European. They didn't know as much about those far away places. This map was meant for navigation purposes as well as academic. There are longitude and latitude lines on the sides that would be useful for navigation. It also shows seas and islands and mountains, but those are the only physical properties we see here. It's mostly a political map. Ptolemy focused on the political boundaries of countries instead of the physical boundaries, so it may not have ben useful for navigation by foot. But for someone traveling by sea, it'd be useful to tell where ports are and major cities. This map only shows a generalized view of the world, leaving out specifics (especially in eastern Asia or Africa) so it's use is limited. But it is affective in that it displays a general description/location of where these countries are and how they fit together and where the major cities are.
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