Overview

Maps were at the heart of cultural life in the Americas from before colonization to the formation of modern nation-states. The fourteen essays in Early American Cartographies examine indigenous and European peoples' creation and use of maps to better represent and understand the world they inhabited. Drawing from both current historical interpretations and new interdisciplinary perspectives, this collection provides diverse approaches to understanding the multilayered exchanges that went into creating cartographic knowledge in and about the Americas. In the introduction, editor Martin Bruckner provides a critical assessment of the concept of cartography and of the historiography of maps. The individual essays, then, range widely over space and place, from the imperial reach of Iberian and British cartography to indigenous conceptualizations, including """"dirty,"""" ephemeral maps and star charts, to demonstrate that pre-nineteenth-century American cartography was at once a multiform and multicultural affair. This volume not only highlights the collaborative genesis of cartographic knowledge about the early Americas; the essays also bring to light original archives and innovative methodologies for investigating spatial relations among peoples in the western hemisphere. Taken together, the authors reveal the roles of early American cartographies in shaping popular notions of national space, informing visual perception, animating literary imagination, and structuring the political history of Anglo- and Ibero-America. The contributors are: Martin Bruckner, University of Delaware Michael J. Drexler, Bucknell University Matthew H. Edney, University of Southern Maine Jess Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University Junia Ferreira Furtado, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil William Gustav Gartner, University of Wisconsin–Madison Gavin Hollis, Hunter College of the City University of New York Scott Lehman, independent scholar Ken MacMillan, University of Calgary Barbara E. Mundy, Fordham University Andrew Newman, Stony Brook University Ricardo Padron, University of Virginia Judith Ridner, Mississippi State University |Maps were at the heart of cultural life in the Americas from before colonization to the formation of modern nation-states. The fourteen essays in Early American Cartographies examine indigenous and European peoples' creation and use of maps to better represent and understand the world they inhabited.

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9780807834695

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Reviews

All those interested in. . . the history of cartography will find a number of articles in this volume to their liking. Those interested in early American cartography will want to add this book to their personal libraries.-- The Portolan

A major addition to the growing field of critical cartography. --Winterthur Portfolio| A remarkable success. . . . [Its] greatest strength is the creativity to be found in making maps more complicated and broadening our definitions of what a map can be. --Journal of Southern History | Bruckner assembled a talented set of contributions from university departments of English, history, geography, art history and romance languages. . . . Many chapters in Early American Cartographies should have a wide readership. --Journal of Historical Geography | All those interested in. . . the history of cartography will find a number of articles in this volume to their liking. Those interested in early American cartography will want to add this book to their personal libraries. --The Portolan

Bruckner has taken the plurality of his title to heart. By expanding the definition of mapmaking to incorporate multiple perspectives and practices, this book embraces maps not only as static images but also as performance, at different scales, across time, through cultures. The authors develop themes as broad as imperial politics and nascent independence movements and as focused as land frauds and urban imaging, pausing along the way to gaze at the stars through Amerindian eyes and to view with surprise the large maps on the walls of humble colonial homes. These essays and Bruckner's cogent introduction pull cartographies to the center stage in the theater of early American histories. --Mary Pedley, The History of Cartography Project, William L. Clements Library<br>

Bruckner assembled a talented set of contributions from university departments of English, history, geography, art history and romance languages. . . . Many chapters in Early American Cartographies should have a wide readership. -- Journal of Historical Geography

Bruckner assembled a talented set of contributions from university departments of English, history, geography, art history and romance languages. . . . Many chapters in Early American Cartographies should have a wide readership.--Journal of Historical Geography A remarkable success. . . . [Its] greatest strength is the creativity to be found in making maps more complicated and broadening our definitions of what a map can be.--Journal of Southern History A major addition to the growing field of critical cartography.--Winterthur Portfolio [A] rich collection.--New West Indian Guide All those interested in. . . the history of cartography will find a number of articles in this volume to their liking. Those interested in early American cartography will want to add this book to their personal libraries.--The Portolan

Author Information

Martin Bruckner is associate professor of English and material culture studies at the University of Delaware.

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