Maps in the Early Modern World

4 credits · Graduate

Drawing on recent research from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, this course will probe the significance of cartographic enterprise across the early modern world. Readings analyze the political, economic, and epistemological imperatives that drove the proliferation of charts and plans in this period and consider what kinds of work such artifacts performed for their patrons, makers, and viewers. The contributions of indigenous knowledge to imperial maps will be considered, as will the career of the map in commerce, diplomacy, conquest, and rule. Time will also be devoted to canvassing historical map reproductions, online and in print.