HIST 483: Mapping the Past: The History of Cartography

This interdisciplinary one-semester, 3-unit, readings and discussions seminar is designed for upper division undergraduate students with interests in history, geography and cartography. It offers broadly-based coverage of major topics in the history of cartography, including the theoretical turn in the "new cartography," the cultural history of cartography, and the role of GIS. Using case studies from the Anglo-European world, we will examine the role of maps in exploration, colonization, and imperialism; cartographic representation of the New World from European and indigenous perspectives; Humboldtian traditions in the Americas; nation-state border projects; and various genres of mapping. Throughout we will examine maps as evidence, develop skills in spatial analysis and interpretation, and consider how maps can be used by historians and other scholars.