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This Bot Generates a Fantasy World Every Hour

The Uncharted Atlas is a collection of maps of imaginary lands.
Amelia Urry April 18, 2017
India as charted in the 19th and 20th centuries. Left: 1855 (American); Right: 1920 (British).
maps

The Spies Who Mapped Great Swathes of South Asia by Foot

Using secret tools, and under cover of night, Indian "pundits" charted land for the British.
Eleanor Cummins April 17, 2017
An 1859 map of the Great Salt Lake.
maps

Utah's First Federal Surveyor Fled the Territory Fearing for His Life

And helped start a war between James Buchanan and Brigham Young.
Sarah Laskow April 7, 2017
The Peters projection, featuring accurate sizes and stretched-out shapes.
maps

Why Map Historians Are Annoyed With Boston Public Schools

The district started phasing in the Peters Projection, to much fanfare. But is it really better than the Mercator?
Cara Giaimo March 29, 2017
The Rakke Compass.
Larvik, Norway

The Rakke Compass

What might look like a cliffside sacrificial altar at first glance is actually a stone compass pointing to cities and lighthouses all around the world.
A border marker in Germany.
maps

The Case for Making European Boundary Stones Into a World Heritage Site

Could surveying be recognized as one of the world's wonders?
Sarah Laskow March 21, 2017
Detail of <em>Druksland</em>, Michael Druks cartographic self-portrait.
maps

This Map Charts the Complex Landscape of an Artist's Face

In 1973, the Israeli artist Michael Druks created an unconventional self-portrait.
Lauren Young March 13, 2017
Do not trust this globe.
globes

Behold the Erdapfel, the World's Oldest Surviving Globe

It's got the beauty, but not the brains.
Eric Grundhauser March 1, 2017
At the time, many assumed the pole itself featured a giant, magnetic mountain.
maps

The Mysteries of the First-Ever Map of the North Pole

Gerard Mercator's 16th-century attempt at mapping the Arctic includes such guesses as a giant whirlpool and polar pygmies.
Cara Giaimo February 27, 2017
This map shows where human-ignited wildfires dominate.
maps

Humans Are Responsible for 84 Percent of Wildfires in the U.S.

Only in the mountainous west was lightning a more common cause, a new paper reports.
Sarah Laskow February 27, 2017
Musician Joshua Antoine performing in the streets of Guayaquil, Ecuador.
maps

A Growing Archive of Global Street Music

Since it launched in 2014, Daniel Bacchieri's Street Music Map has recorded the locations of some 1,200 artists spread across 93 countries.
Eric Grundhauser February 24, 2017
The monument's front.
East Liverpool, Ohio

The Starting Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey

After covering almost 1.5 billion acres, the survey's still not finished.
A map of U.S. President George Washington's Mount Vernon estate from a drawing transmitted by the General. Published in 1801.
maps

George Washington's Own 1793 Map of Mount Vernon

Before he was the first U.S. president, Washington surveyed the lands of colonial America.
Lauren Young February 20, 2017
A cartographic mystery.
maps

The Enduring Mystery of the 'Fool's Cap Map of the World'

The full meaning of this 16th-century illustration may never be understood.
Lauren Young February 13, 2017
A description of the Ohio River, by Thomas Hutchins, the U.S. Geographer.
maps

When Land Surveys Were a Modern Marvel

In 1784, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton squared off over the best way to divvy up newly American territory.
Sarah Laskow February 9, 2017
Detail of the Mini Monument
Washington, D.C.

Washington Mini Monument

There's a 12-foot-tall replica of the Washington Monument hidden under a manhole nearby.
"America—A Nation of One People From Many Countries," by Emma Bourne published in 1940 by the Council Against Intolerance in America.
maps

The Powerful 1940 Map That Depicts America as a Nation of Immigrants

It was produced by the Council Against Intolerance in the lead up to World War II.
Lauren Young February 6, 2017
A geography lesson at the Elm Lodge Residential School For Elder Blind Girls, in London, in 1908.
maps

How to Learn Geography With Your Hands

For the past couple of centuries, tactile maps—geographic aids for the blind—have been as beautiful as they are effective.
Cara Giaimo February 3, 2017