Cartography nerds, get excited.

They Don't Make Maps Like this Anymore

Author: Riley Arthur, Photo Fellow, The Huffington Post

Posted: 12/01/2015 10:49 AM EST



LEO BELGICUS, HONDIUS, JODOCUS, 1563-1612.

Since the human invention of territorial borders there has been a fascination with maps. Maps have defined the way we understand th.e world, outlining the geographical -- and often political -- delineations of humanity.

"Worlds Revealed," a new Library of Congress blog created in November, will feature some of the more vintage maps from the LoC archive. The maps, dating back as early as the 1500s, show a time when cartographers used their own artistic stroke to illustrate the world, including cities, railroads, national parks -- even the cosmos.

"With this blog, we invite you to broaden your conception of what a map is," the Library of Congress notes on its site. "We will highlight cartographic objects from our collections that sometimes go beyond what usually ends up in exhibits and in textbooks and bring to the forefront uncataloged objects that have never before been placed online."

Take a peek into the maps of "Worlds Revealed" below.

                                               Map of Lenawee County, Michigan, 1857

·         BECHLER

Map of Peking, 1914.

·         TIANJIN/ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

A portolan chart of the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent continents, 1633.

·         PASCOAL ROIZ/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Portolan atlas of the Mediterranean Sea, 1590.

·         SEBASTIAN MüNSTER/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

New weldt oder Inseln, so hinder Hispanien gegen Orient bey dem land India ligen, 1550.

·         ARTHUR WILLIAM HUMMEL/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The great Qing Dynasty's complete map of all under heaven, 1890.

·         LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Central America, 1850.

·         ECKEBRECHT, PHILIPP ECKEBRECHT, JOHANNES KEPLER, JOHANN PHILIPP WALCH/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The delineation of the south of the world , adapted to a singular manner, 1630.

·         WILLIAM HOLE, JOHN SMITH/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Virginia, 1624.

·         W GODSON/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

A new and correct map of the world : laid down according to the newest observations, 1702.

·         MATEUS PRUNES/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Chart of the Mediterranean, Black Sea, and the coasts of western Europe and northwest Africa, 1559.

·         JODOCUS, HONDIUS, HUGUES PICART, JEAN BOISSEAU/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Africa Board, 1640.

·         LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Portolan chart of the Pacific coast from Mexico to northern Chile, 1500.

·         YUANYI MAO/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Wu bei zhi, 1644.

·         LEO BELGICUS, HONDIUS, JODOCUS, 1563-1612.