Rare Maps Collection
By Kate Matheny, Outreach Coordinator for Special Collections
Hoole Library’s Rare Maps Collection is divided into four categories:
- World – Maps of the world, and of areas of the eastern hemisphere: Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica.
- New World – Maps of the western hemisphere: North and South America, including Central America and the West Indies.
- U.S. and the Americas – Maps of North America after 1776.
- Alabama – Maps of Alabama and the surrounding area, including as part of Georgia Territory and Mississippi Territory.
A list is presented below, with call number and, in the case of the World Maps, a description of its scope. To view any of these maps, request them by title and call number in the Hoole Library reading room.
Hoole Library has hundreds more maps, especially of Alabama and the southeast U.S. Like these rare maps, they can be found in a search of the library catalog and viewed in the reading room upon request.
Many of these and other rare maps can be found online in our Digital Collections, in Historical Maps. Titles linked below go to those digitized items.
World
Overview
Though attempts at a world map date back to ancient Greece and Rome and maps of the world as it was known appear throughout the middle ages, the first maps that look like the world as we know it appear in the 16th century. They came from a school of Dutch and Flemish cartographers working in Leuven, Antwerp, and Amsterdam, then all part of the Netherlands. Those for which we have examples include the following:
- Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594)
- Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598)
- Jodocus Hondius (1563-1612)
- Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638)
- Peter Kaerius (1571-1646)
- Isaac Abrahamszoon Massa (1586-1643)
- Claes Janszoon Visscher (1587-1652)
- Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664)
- Hendrik Hondius (1573-1650)
- Joan Blaeu (1596-1673)
- Frederik de Wit (1629/30-1760)
European mapmaking was not, however, confined to the Dutch. French cartographers in our collection include Sébastien Pontault de Beaulieu (1612-1674), Guillaume Delisle (1675-1726), and Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville (1697-1782). Other prominent cartographers represented here are Llwyd Humphrey (1527-1568) of Wales, Johannes Michael Gigas (1582-1637) of the Holy Roman Empire (German), Vincenzo Coronelli (1650-1718) of Venice (Italian), Herman Moll (1654-1732) in England (Dutch), Timothy Pont (1565-1614) of Scotland, and John Senex (1678-1740) of England.
List
Presented chronologically by region.
World
- Description: Map of the world
- Note: It depicts the imagined continent Terra Australis Incognita (“unknown southern land”), while the island eventually known as Australia was yet to be charted
- Call Number: G3200 1570z .O77x
- Description: Map of the world
- Note: It depicts the imagined continent Terra Australis Incognita (“unknown southern land”), while the island eventually known as Australia was yet to be charted
- Call Number: G3200 1635 .B53x
- Description: Map of the world
- Call Number: G3200 1721 .S46x
- Description: Map of the world
- Note: The hemispheres are presented as separate globes, in a Nicolosi globular projection
- Call Number: G3200 1794 .R6x
Africa & Middle East
- Description: Map of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, with portions of the southern Mediterranean region
- Call Number: G8200 1587 .M47x
- Description: Map of Africa, with portions of the Mediterranean region and Arabian peninsula
- Call Number: G8200 1631 .H66x
- Description: Map of the Middle East, with northeastern Africa and southern Europe
- Note: The territory shown is bounded by the German states and Poland in the north, modern Pakistan in the east, Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) in the south, and Algeria and Spain in the west
- Call Number: G7420 1714 .S4x
- Description: Map of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, with portions of the southern Mediterranean region
- Note: Modern Iran, then Safavid dynasty Persia, is shown in outline only
- Call Number: G8200 1721 .S4x
Asia & Middle East
- Description: Map of Japan, with Korea (as an island) and the coast of China
- Call Number: G7960 1594 .M47x
- Description: Map of Asia and the Middle East, with portions of eastern Africa and southeastern Europe
- Call Number: G7400 1631 .H65x
- Description: Map of Asia and the Middle East, including the Arctic region (inset), with portions of Europe and Africa largely in outline
- Note: A portion of Australia (New Holland) appears at the bottom right, and the imagined island Iesso appears north of Japan
- Call Number: G7400 1721 .S4x
- Description: Map of Asia, including South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and part of Central Asia
- Note: The territory is bounded by modern Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in the northwest, Japan in the northeast, New Guinea in the southeast, and the Indian subcontinent and the Maldives in the southeast.
- Call Number: G7650 1721 .S4x
Europe
See subheadings for regions of Europe: Northern, British Isles, Western, Central, Southern, and Eastern.
Hondius, Jodocus. Nova Europae descriptio. 1595.- Description: Map of Europe, as far east as the Caspian Sea, with portions of northern Africa and Asia Minor
- Call Number: G5700 1595 .H6x
- Description: Map of Europe, as far east as the Caspian Sea, with portions of northern Africa and Asia Minor
- Call Number: G5701 .S1 1663 .M4x
Northern
- Description: Map of northern Europe, including Fenno-Scandinavia, the British Isles, Iceland, and Greenland
- Call Number: G6910 1570 .O7x
- Description: Map of Norway, then part of Denmark-Norway; map shows territory as far north as Sognefjorden and as far east as the coast of Sweden, although the map is relatively blank east of Oslo, Norway
- Call Number: G6940 1658 .J36x
- Description: Map of Fenno-Scandinavia and the Baltic region, covering all of modern Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia, with portions of central Europe
- Call Number: G6910 1600z .H6x
- Description: Map of the arctic (north polar region), as far as it was known, including far northern Eurasia, Greenland, and Iceland
- Call Number: G9780 1600z .H65x
- Description: Map of Iceland
- Call Number: G6930 1658 .F54x
- Description: Map of the Fennoscandian Peninsula, then divided between Norway, Sweden (including modern Finland), and Russia, with portions of central and eastern Europe
- Call Number: G6910 1719 .S4x
- Description: Map of Denmark (Jutland) and the Duchy of Holstein, in modern Denmark and Germany, with portions of modern northern Germany and southern Sweden.
- Call Number: G6920 1721 .S4x
British Isles
- Description: Map of Wales
- Call Number: G5760 1573 .L5x
- Description: Map of the Lothian region of southeastern Scotland
- Call Number: G5770 1600z .P66x
- Description: Map of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with portions of France, the Netherlands (including modern Belgium), and Norway
- Call Number: G5740 1628 .M4x
- Description: Maps of four British islands: Anglesey in the Irish Sea, and Guernsey and Jersey (Channel Islands) and the Isle of Wight in the English Channel
- Call Number: G5752 .A6 1633 .M4x
- Description: Map of the southeast regions of England: Warwick, Northampton, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Suffolk, Oxford, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hartfordshire, Essex, Berkshire, Middlesex, Southampton, Surrey, Kent, and Sussex
- Call Number: G5752 .W3 1633 .M4x
- Description: Map of the east central regions of England: York, Lincoln, Derby, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, and Norfolk
- Call Number: G5752 .E2 1633 .M4x
- Description: Map of the northern regions of England: Northumbria, Cumbria, and County Durham, with a portion of Scotland
- Call Number: G5752.N6 1633 .M4x
- Description: Map of Scotland, with a portion of northern England
- Note: It does not depict the extreme north, including the Outer Hebrides
- Call Number: G5771 .S4 1633 .M4x
- Description: Map of England, Scotland, and Ireland
- Note: It orients with north on the right
- Call Number: G5740 1640 .J35x
- Description: Map of England, with portions of Scotland and Ireland in outline
- Call Number: G5750 1640 .J35x
- Description: Map of Ireland
- Call Number: G5780 1650z .J35x
- Description: Map of England, Scotland, and Ireland
- Call Number: G5740 1658 .M3x
- Description: Map of the Northern Isles of Scotland: the Orkney and Shetland Islands
- Call Number: G5772 .O6 1658 .H6x
- Description: Map of England, with portions of Scotland and Ireland in outline
- Call Number: G5750 1721 .S4x
- Description: Map of Scotland, including the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Orkney Islands, and the Isle of Shetland (inset), with a portion of northern England
- Call Number: G5770 1721 .S4x
Western
- Description: Map of the Principality of Orange, a vassal kingdom of the Holy Roman Empire, and Comtat Venaissin, part of the Papal States, both in modern France
- Note: It is oriented with north at the bottom
- Call Number: G5833 .V3 1627 .P7x
- Description: Map of the Principality of Sedan and Raucourt and the Prevost of Donchery, now in the northeast of modern France, with portions of the Picardy, Champagne, and Lorraine regions of modern France, as well as modern Luxembourg and Belgium
- Call Number: G5833 .A55 1600z .H6x
- Description: Map of the area around Pheasant Island, located in the River Bidasoa between Spain and France
- Note: The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed here, ending the Franco-Spanish War of 1635-1659; it is only 200 by 40 meters and uninhabited, and it is held alternately by Spain and France
- Call Number: DC124.45 B42x
- Description: Map of France, including the Catalonia region of modern Spain (inset), with portions of modern England, Spain, and Germany
- Call Number: G5831 .P2 1719 .S4x
- Description: Map of Portugal and Spain, including the Balearic Islands, with portions of southern France and the northern coast of Africa from modern Tangier, Morocco, to Oran, Algeria
- Call Number: G6560 1719 .S4x
Central
- Description: Map of Moravia, part of the Holy Roman Empire, in the eastern part of the modern Czech Republic
- Call Number: G6511 .S3 1620z .C6x
- Description: Map of the regions of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania, part of the Holy Roman Empire, in the northeast of modern Germany
- Call Number: G6090 1633 .V5x
- Description: Map of the coastline of the modern Netherlands and Germany, including coastal islands and Hamburg (inset)
- Note: The territory shown is from the bay around Amsterdam in the west to the mouth of the Elba River in the east
- Call Number: G6002 .W3P5 1634 .N5x
- Description: Map of the Landgraviate of Hesse, part of the Holy Roman Empire, in modern Germany
- Call Number: G6370 1644 .H3x
- Description: Map of the Duchy of Württemberg, part of the Holy Roman Empire, in modern Germany, with portions of France and Switzerland
- Call Number: G6425 1658 .M4x
- Description: Map of Transylvania, then a principality ruled by Hungarian princes as a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, in modern Romania
- Note: Siebenburgen is the German name for the region
- Call Number: G6882 .T7 1658 .M4x
- Description: Map of the Liège, an ecclesiastical state of the Holy Roman Empire, in modern Belgium
- Call Number: G6013 .L4 1658 .H6x
- Description: Map of the Diocese of Osnabrück, part of the Holy Roman Empire, in modern Germany
- Note: The territory shown is roughly bounded by Meppen in the northwest, the Dümmer See in the northeast, Borgholzhausen in the southeast, and Rheine in the northwest
- Call Number: G6322 .O8 1658 .G5x
- Description: Map of the Electorate of Erbach, part of the Holy Roman Empire, in modern Germany
- Note: The territory shown is roughly bounded by Aschaffenburg on the Main River in the north, Freudenberg on the Main River in the east, Heidelberg and the Necker River in the south, and the Rhine River in the west
- Call Number: G6393 .E7 1658 .K4x
- Description: Map of the Duchy of Cleves, part of the Holy Roman Empire, in modern Germany and the Netherlands; and the Dominion of Rave[n]stein, in the modern Netherlands
- Call Number: G6363 .C55 1658x
- Description: Map of the Elbe River, from the North Sea near Hamburg in modern Germany to Prague in the modern Czech Republic
- Note: It is displayed in two plates, one on top of the other, and is oriented according to the course of the river rather than with north at the top.
- Call Number: G6032 .E6 1658 .A5x
- Description: Map of the Elbe River through modern Germany, from the North Sea through Hamburg, then as far south as Geesthacht and Marschacht
- Call Number: G6032 .E6 1658 .J3x
- Description: Map of the course of the Danube River
- Note: It begins in modern Germany and passes through or between modern Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croati, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine before emptying into the Black Sea
- Call Number: G6032 .D3 1696 .S3x
- Description: Map of the Spanish Netherlands and adjacent territory, including all of modern Belgium and Luxembourg, and parts of modern France, Germany, and the Netherlands
- Note: The territory shown is roughly bounded by the modern cities of Breda, Netherlands, in the north; Cologne, Germany, in the east; and Reims and Calais, France, in the south and west
- Call Number: G5833 .N6 1719 .S4x
- Description: Map of Amsterdam, Dutch Republic (modern Netherlands), with 288 streets numbered and named
- Note: It orients with north toward the bottom right (see compass on map)
- Call Number: G6004 .A5 1720 .P37x
- Description: Map of Switzerland showing the 13 cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy, with portions of modern France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and Italy
- Call Number: G6040 1721 .S4x
- Description: Map of the German states, part of the Holy Roman Empire, with portions of the Spanish Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Prussia
- Call Number: G6080 1721 .S4x
- Description: Map of the Kingdom of Hungary, which includes modern Slovakia and parts of modern Croatia, Serbia, and Romania, with portions of adjacent territories
- Call Number: G6500 1721 .S4x
Southern
- Description: Left: Map of the ancient Roman regions of Etruria, Umbria, and Latium, with borders roughly at the modern Italian regions of Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio; Right: Map of the ancient Roman region of Venetia and Istria, in modern Italy and Slovenia
- Note: Left: Map orients with north on the left
- Call Number: G6710 1600z .T4x
- Description: Map of the Bishopric of Trent (ecclesiastical state) and southern County of Tyrol (imperial estate), part of the Holy Roman Empire, roughly analogous to the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige in modern Italy
- Note: The territory shown is roughly bounded by the Adige and Eisack Rivers in the north, the Piave River in the east, Lago di Garda in the south, and the Oglio River in the west
- Call Number: G6713 .T7 1658 .J3x
- Description: Map of the territory around the Adriatic Sea (or Gulf of Venice), then territory belonging to the Republic of Venice or the Ottoman Empire, which includes parts of modern Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece (island of Corfu),
- Call Number: G5672 .A37 1696 .S2x
- Description: Map of the Italian states, which includes the Apennine Peninsula, the coast of modern Croatia, and the islands of Sardinia, Sicily, and Corsica
- Call Number: G6710 1719 .S4x
- Description: Map of Greece, a portion of Anatolia (then part of the Ottoman Empire) as far east as the island of Rhodes and the city of Constantinople, and a portion of the Balkan Peninsula
- Note: The island of Crete is featured at the bottom of the map as Candia, its name during rule by the Venetian Republic and by the Ottoman Empire
- Call Number: G6810 1720 .S4x
- Description: Map of the Duchy of Savoy and the Piedmont region, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, regions of modern France and Italy, respectively, including insets of Turin (modern Italy) and Verrue (a city that no longer exists, on the Po River between Turin and Vercelli in modern Italy)
- Call Number: G5723 .S2 1721 .S4x
- Description: Map of Rome, capital of the Papal States (modern Rome and Vatican City), with 196 churches or other religious buildings numbered and named
- Note: It also features four inset illustrations of points of historical interest: Ruins of the Amphitheater of Vespasian (Colosseum), St Peters Church and Ye Popes Pallace (St. Peter’s Basillca and the Apostolic Palace), the Sepulcher of Caijus Cestus (Pyramid of Cestius), and Trajans Pillar (Trajan’s Column)
- Call Number: G6714 .R7 1721 .S4x
- Description: Map of the Kingdom of Sicily
- Call Number: G6760 1721 .S4x
Eastern
- Description: Map of Russia, including Fenno-Scandinavia and eastern Europe, as far south and east as the Black Sea and Caspian Sea
- Call Number: G7000 1658 .M37x
- Description: Map of Poland
- Note: At that time the country extended only as far as modern Posnan, Poland, in the west but included all of modern Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Belarus, as well as the western part of modern Ukraine
- Call Number: G6520 1719 .S4x
- Description: Map of western Russia (Moscovy), including the Lapland region of Fennoscandia, then divided between Denmark-Norway (modern Norway), Sweden (modern Finland), and Russia
- Note: The territory shown ranges from the modern Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) in the west to Astrakhan (a modern Russian province) in the east
- Call Number: G7001 .S4 1721 .S4x
New World
Overview
The Americas were populated with a diverse array of native peoples in the centuries before the arrival of Europeans in the late 15th and early 16th centuries — before, indeed, they were thought of as a “new world, a unified place called the Americas. However, as these outsiders were the creators of the modern maps being discussed here, in this context our interest is in seeing these territories primarily as colonial and post-colonial possessions.
Maps of the New World show the spread of European colonial interests in the eastern hemisphere, including major players like Spain, Great Britain, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands.
North America was extensively colonized by Great Britain, France, and Spain.
- Britain held much of the east coast of North America, from Georgia in the south to Newfoundland in the north, and the Hudson Bay Company held much of Canada west of the St. Lawrence Valley as Rupert’s Land. The earliest colonies were Roanoke (1580s) and Jamestown (1600s). The last British possession was Canada, which gained it independence in 1867.
- Spain held much of North America west of the Mississippi, a territory stretching from southern Mexico to Alaska called the Viceroyalty of New Spain (1521-1821), as well as Florida. Spanish Louisiana, the area that would later become the Louisiana Purchase, was ceded to the French in 1800. Mexico gained its independence in 1821, and it split Las Californias with Spain, Alta California being U.S. territory west of the Louisiana Purchase and Baja California being a province of Mexico.
- France for a time held a stretch of North America from the Gulf coast to the Hudson Bay. Called New France, its provinces were Canada, which encompassed modern Quebec and Ontario but stretched as far west as modern Saskatchewan; and French Louisiana (La Louisiane française), which consisted of Upper Louisiana (la Haute-Louisiane) and Lower Louisiana (la Basse-Louisiane). It ceded Canada to Britain in the 18th century and most of Louisiana to the United States in 1803.
Central America — modern day Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama — was largely colonized by Spain, with the exception of Belize, which was once known as British Honduras.
Even after the heyday of colonization, many European powers had and still have a foothold in the region by way of Caribbean and Atlantic possessions, an area long referred to as the West Indies. While each of these territories and countries has its own unique culture and place in the world, finding and understanding maps about these areas is only possible if one knows the colonial powers involved — those who made the maps and whose colonization still determines much about local place names. Islands in bold still belong to the European power with which they’re listed.
- The British West Indies included territories in the Lucayan Archipelago: the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands; islands in the Greater Antilles: the Cayman Islands and Jamaica; and islands in the Lesser Antilles: the British Virgin Islands (once Las Vírgenes), Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts (once San Cristóbal, alternatively Saint Christopher) and Nevis (once Nuestra Señora de las Nieves), Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados.
- The French West Indies, not including territories only held by France briefly, included Haiti (then Saint-Domingue) and territories in the Lesser Antilles: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, and Saint Barthélemy (once San Bartolomeo, alternatively Saint Barts).
- The Spanish West Indies included territories in the Greater Antilles: Cuba, the Dominican Republic (then Santo Domingo), and Puerto Rico (once San Juan Bautista).
- The Dutch West Indies included territories in the Lesser Antilles: Sint Maarten, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao.
- The Danish West Indies included what is now the U.S. Virgin Islands, in the Lesser Antilles.
South America was colonized heavily by the Spanish and Portuguese, in addition to other powers. Much of the continent was independent from Europe by the 1830s.
- Brazil was first colonized by the Portuguese in the early 16th century. At first, it only encompassed the far eastern tip of the continent, having gained the territory in the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided Castilian (Spanish) possessions from Portuguese. From 1630 to 1654, the Dutch held part of northern Brazil as New Holland. In the early 18th century, the Portuguese expanded their territory, and in 1775 its three large colonies were united into one under the name Brazil.
- The Viceroyalty of Peru (1542-1824), a Spanish possession, once covered much of South America. By 1776, it had been largely carved up and given to other administrative units or lost territory to Portuguese Brazil; it was confined to the north west and far west coast, modern Peru and Chile, with portions of adjacent countries.
- The Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717), a Spanish possession in the north of the continent, once encompassed modern Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela.
- The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (1776-1814), a Spanish possession in the south and east of the continent, encompassed modern Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
List
Presented chronologically by region.
Western Hemisphere
- Call Number: G3290 1570 O7x
- Call Number: G3290 1574 .O7 F5x
- Call Number: G3290 1587 O7x
- Call Number: G3290 1595 .M47x
- Call Number: G3290 1609 .H65 1622x
- Call Number: G3290 1626 .S6x
- Call Number: G3290 1635 .B5x
- Call Number: G3290 1640 .B5x
- Call Number: G3290 1646 .M47x
- Call Number: G3290 1650 .J365x
- Call Number: G3290 1650 .J36x
- Call Number: G3290 1670 .W57x
- Call Number: G3290 1675 .B47x
- Call Number: G3290 1680 .A44x
- Call Number: G3290 1680 .C6x
- Call Number: G3290 1688 .M67x
- Call Number: G3290 1717 F47x
- Call Number: G3290 1721 .S46x c.2
- Call Number: G3290 1755 .L47x
North America
- Call Number: G3300 1593 .J6x
- Call Number: G3870 1597 .M4x
- Call Number: G4900 1606 .M4x
- Call Number: G9120 1621 .H66x
- Call Number: G3300 1633 .V5x
- Call Number: G3300 1647 .J3x
- Call Number: G3720 1650z .J3x
- Call Number: G3930 1667 .S26x
- Call Number: G3880 1608 .S5 1671x
- Call Number: G3880 1676 .S7x
- Call Number: G3300 1682 .V57x 1900z
- Call Number: G3300 1690 .M6x
- Call Number: G3300 1695 .S3x
- Call Number: G4042 .M5 1702 .F4x
- Call Number: G3300 1690z .S3x
- Call Number: G4040 1717 .H6x c.2
- Call Number: G4042 .M5 1718 .L5x
- Call Number: G3870 1730 .M36x
- Call Number: G3300 1730 .L57 N6x
- Call Number: G3300 1737 .H65x
- Call Number: G3860 1750 .L5
- Call Number: G3300 1740 .C37x
- Call Number: G4012.C6 1744 .B4
- Call Number: G4014 .N5 1744 B4
- Call Number: G3860 1747 .B6x
- Call Number: G3920 1740z .K57x
- Call Number: G3300 1752 .B62 N6x
- Call Number: G3321.F2 1755 .H5x
- Call Number: G3300 1755 .P35 C3x
- Call Number: G3300 1758 .K57x
- Call Number: G3709.3 1758 .C68x
- Call Number: G3710 1759 .H66x
- Call Number: G3930 1763 .G5x
- Call Number: G3930 1763 .N4x
- Call Number: G3930 1768 .J44x Sheet 2
- Call Number: G3930 1769 .J44x
- Call Number: G3300 1760z .L67 M3x
- Call Number: G3300 1763 .B6 1772x
- Call Number: G3300 1772 .L57 A5x
Central America & West Indies
- Call Number: G3932 .W4 1772 G4x
- Call Number: G3860 1781 .B39x
- Call Number: G4872 .C25 1699 .M6x
- Call Number: G4900 1712 .H3x
- Call Number: G4924 .H3 1720 .B6x
- Call Number: G4870 1721 .D7x
- Call Number: G5140.B2 1721 M66x
- Call Number: G4930 1722 .L57x
- Call Number: G4960 1732 .M6x
- Call Number: G5040 1732 .M6x
- Call Number: G5050 1732 .M6x
- Call Number: G4900 1738 .B6x
- Call Number: G5130 1758 .B4x
- Call Number: G4900 1759 .K5x
- Call Number: G5122 .B4 1763 .J41 1775x
- Call Number: G5100 1778 .B6x
South America
- Call Number: Oversize G4390 1715 .M6x
- Call Number: G5200 1732 .M6x
- Call Number: G9120 1732 .M6x
- Call Number: G9112.M48 1770 .P3
U.S. & the Americas
Overview
The thirteen colonies declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, entered into confederation in 1781 with the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, were recognized as independent in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris, and entered into union with the ratification of the Constitution in 1788.
Maps of the early U.S. show it to be one of many powers on the North American continent. The British held territories to the north, in what is now Canada, and the Spanish and French held much of the west.
- Territory ceded by Great Britain in 1783 included the eventual states of Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and all those formerly part of the Northwest Territory: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and portions of Minnesota.
- Territory ceded by France in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase included the eventual states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota; and portions of Louisiana (Orleans Territory), Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. (In an 1818 treaty, Britain ceded the remainder of territorial Minnesota and North Dakota, an area around the Red River Basin).
- Territory ceded by Spain in the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty included East Florida, what is now the state of Florida; West Florida, with parts of modern Louisiana (east of the Mississippi River), Mississippi, and Alabama; and the remainder of modern Louisiana (Neutral Ground between the old Orleans Territory and Spanish Texas).
List
Presented chronologically.
- Call Number: G4390 1780 .D4
- Call Number: G3870 1788 .Z37x
- Call Number: G3701 .F2 1794 .B6x
- Call Number: G3860 1794 .R62x
- Call Number: G3932.C6 1794 .J4
- Call Number: G3870 1790z .P87x
- Call Number: G3700 1801 .B37x
- Call Number: G3701 .S3 1811 .J3x
- Call Number: G3700 1814 .C3x
- Call Number: G3700 1814 .L36x
- Call Number: G4042 .M5 1814 S4x
- Call Number: G4014 .W5 1815 P6x
- Call Number: G4014 .N5 1816 .L33x
- Call Number: G3700 1817 .L8x
- Call Number: G3860 1817 .T46x
- Call Number: G4014 .N5 1817 .T3x
- Call Number: G3700 1818 .D3x
- Call Number: G3972.M64 1826 .T3x
- Call Number: Oversize E458.4 .W43 1864
- Call Number: G3860 1800z .R8x
- Call Number: G3865 .P2 1800x M3
Alabama
Overview
The territory we now call Alabama has long appeared on maps of North America. To trace those maps, it’s helpful to know who possessed the territory — or, more accurately, the various parts of it.
- The lower third of the future state (south of modern Montgomery but not including the Gulf coast) was sparsely settled until the late 18th century. It formed part of the new Mississippi Territory in 1798.
- The upper portion of state, known as the Yazoo lands, was part of British Province of Georgia and subsequently the State of Georgia (1767-1804). It joined the Mississippi Territory in 1804.
- Coastal Alabama (modern Baldwin and Mobile counties) was part of French Lower Louisiana (1702-1763), British West Florida (1763-1783), Spanish West Florida (1783-1810), and the short-lived independent Republic of West Florida (1810-1812). Because of the Louisiana Purchase, it was annexed to the Mississippi Territory in 1812; however, control of that area was disputed with Spain until 1819, when all of Florida was ceded to the U.S. (taking effect in 1821).
- Alabama Territory split from the new state of Mississippi in 1817.
- Alabama was admitted to statehood in 1819.
Our early Alabama maps cover much of this territorial background, and they also highlight important aspects of the state’s history, including the Native American tribes native to the area and subsequent wars with some of these tribes. They also show the political, administrative, and economic changes that came to the early state. Several cities served as the territorial or state capital, their locations showing a tug of war between regional interests: St. Stephens (1817-1819) was in the southwest, about 60 miles north of Mobile; Huntsville (1819-1820) is in the north, about 20 miles south of the border with Tennessee; and subsequent capitals were nearer the center: Cahaba (1820-1825), near Selma; Tuscaloosa (1826-1846); and Montgomery (1846-present).
List
Presented chronologically.
- Call Number: G3920 1798 .P6x
- Call Number: G3970 1810z .P4x
- Call Number: G3970 1831 .M3x
- Call Number: G3970 1800z .L8x
- Call Number: G3971.S43 1800z .M3x
- Call Number: G3972 .M5 1851 .U5
- Call Number: G3973 .T3 1817 S6x
- Call Number: G3973 .T4 1814 B2x
- Call Number: G3980 1804 .L4x
- Call Number: G3980 1813 .C3x
- Call Number: G3980 1814 .C3x
- Call Number: G4010 1788 .A58x