Representing the Republic: Mapping the United States, 1600-1900

This work provides an account of the mapping of the United States from its colonial origins to 1900. Many of the significant maps and mapmakers are discussed in a chronological narrative that begins with the first European mappings of the New Netherlands (New York State, Massachusetts and Connecticut) in the early 17th century and concludes with the Rand McNally atlases of the 1890s. Maps tell us a great deal about the transformation of America’s national identity. Having undertaken extensive research in map collections and with rare archival material in the US and overseas, geographer John Rennie Short provides a description of how maps have both embodied and reflected power, conflict and territorial expansion throughout American history. His illustrated text focuses on maps of colonial claims, surveys of the American West, and national atlases, paying particular attention to how and why certain groups - Native Americans, for example - were included on or excluded from maps.