2 Really Cool Old Maps

Map of USA in 1844

I’ve wasted enjoyed thousands of hours staring at maps – especially old maps.

Here are two of the best maps I’ve ever seen.

They are both in the public domain, and interesting both for the map part – and the info surrounding it.

Map of USA in 1844

Observations from this map:

  • The cities are tiny. Really tiny.
  • Rural areas are really populated. For example, Oglethorpe County, Georgia (next door to Athens, GA) has a higher population than the urban Clarke County – and even has a higher population than it does now.
  • Umm, where’s Atlanta?
  • I always forget that West Virginia seceded from a seceding Virginia.
  • Florida is “an extensive swamp.”
Map of World in 1794

Observations from this map:

  • Every crater on the moon has a name…but they couldn’t get the shapes of the continents close to correct. I reminds me how even now we are are crowdsourcing and naming millions of stars and galaxies…while we know very, very little about the oceans. Which creates the question – why are astronomers so good at getting funding?
  • Old Greenland was “found again in the preceding century” – umm, what does that mean?
  • At least the interior rivers of South America had been explored – but Africa? – a big blank. Ditto Australia.
  • Apparently Hawaii was called the “Sandwich Islands”
  • “Terraqueous Globe” is such as better term than “map of the world.” Why can’t the best words stick around?
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