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Roanoke Colonies Research Newsletter
Map Sites on the World Wide Web
One of the most noted traits of that portion of the Internet known as the World Wide Web is its ability to transmit graphic materials. For that reason, researchers interested in sixteenth-century exploration can find at their fingertips at least one item on the World Wide Web that may not be as easily accessible by other means-maps. Several sixteenth- and seventeenth-century maps revealing European knowledge of and beliefs about North America have been placed on the World Wide Web, as have modern maps showing Roanoke Island and its environs. In particular, four types of cartographic sites of interest for Roanoke colonization related research can be found on the World Wide Web: those with electronic versions of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century maps; those with modern maps showing sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sites; those which serve as guides to other cartographic and geographic sites on the World Wide Web; and commercial map dealers' World Wide Web sites. The most visually interesting may be those sites with electronic versions of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century maps. Two locations with large numbers of such maps are the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA) and the Hargrett Library Rare Map Collection at the University of Georgia Web sites. The ACMLA concentrates mostly on Canadian-related maps, but among these are several maps showing either North America or the world as whole. For instance, the 1593 Americae Pars Borealis, Florida, Baccalaos, Canada, Corterealis, by Cornelis de Jode, is a heavily annotated depiction of the eastern regions of North America from the Florida peninsula to the lands marked incognita north of present-day Canada. Interesting world maps include a 1560 untitled one by Paolo Forlani and Giovanni Camocio and the 1565 Universale Descrittione di Tutta la Terra Conosciuta, by P. Forlani and F. Bertelli, both of which portray North America as one large continent connected with Asia. Because the ACMLA makes these electronic versions of their maps available as something of an illustrated catalog for the map facsimiles they sell, the resolution of their graphics are not always good. However, they do serve well as quick overviews-and if someone desires cleaner versions, the map facsimiles can be ordered. Even better, though, the Hargrett Library Rare Map Collection's site has one of the best collections of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century maps on the World Wide Web, all scanned at high resolution. The Hargrett Library's Rare Map Collection site has two sections of particular interest for people examining Roanoke Colonization related subjects: "The New World" and "Colonial America." The first contains seven early maps that portray the Americas-both alone and in a global context-as European cartographers first viewed them, cluding Mercator's 1587 Orbis terrae compendiosa descriptio. The section "Colonial America" includes sixty-five maps dating from 1625 to 1774, concentrating on North America, including ones by Mercator, Bleau, and Hondius. The images from the Hargrett Library Rare Map Collection are under copyright, but can be downloaded for personal use without permission from the library. Other sites contain one or two maps of interest, even if the majority of their maps have no Roanoke colonization connections. For example, The Map Case, the title that the Bodleian Library Map Room at Oxford has given to the part of its World Wide Web site that includes electronic versions of maps, has a detail from a color manuscript version of John Smith's 1612 Virginia Discovered . . . . The detail highlights a depiction of a Powhatan council inside a grass mat covered building, obviously influenced by John White's watercolor pictures from the 1585 Roanoke expedition. And the World Wide Web site of the James Ford Bell Map Collection at the University of Minnesota includes the 1545 Nuevo Mundo from Pedro de Medina's book Arte de nauegar; the map depicts the Spanish understanding of the Atlantic world following its explorations up to the year 1540. The second type of map site on the World Wide Web includes those with modern maps showing sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sites. The Perry-Casta–eda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin includes in its World Wide Web site several "Historical Maps of the United States." These are all copyright free maps, including such titles as "Early Indian Tribes, Culture Areas, and Linguistic Stocks-Eastern U.S." and "Exploration and Settlement Before 1675." Perhaps more interesting among the modern maps of Roanoke colonization-related sites are those available "on the fly," that is, drawn to specifications as one sits at the computer. Two services provide just such maps copyright free: the Xerox PARC Map Viewer and TIGER Map Service (TMS). The Map Viewer is provided on the World Wide Web as a service of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, and TMS is provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Both provide gazetteer services, allowing the user to type in a city or town name-such as Manteo, North Carolina-to create a map that centers on that place. Each service has its advantages. The Map Viewer creates very good regional pictures, of any place in the world, giving the options of showing natural and manmade infrastructures such as rivers, roads, railroads, and federal lands; for world views it allows for a variety of projection formats. TMS covers only the United States, but it has better detail than does the Map Viewer as one zooms in closer to the desired location. Several commercial sites on the World Wide Web also provide maps "on the fly," but most of these maps are not copyright free. However, some do indicate some unusual locations. For example, MapQuest's Interactive Atlas shows all of the roads on the north end of Roanoke Island and indicates such spots along the island's coast as Otis Cove and Crab Claw Spit. Best of all, just off shore, it indicates a spot marked "Roanoac," perhaps a reference to the "Lost Colony" or else to the Native American village that once existed on the island. The third map-related type of sites are those which serve as guides to other cartographic and geographic sites on the World Wide Web. Perhaps the best of these is that of the Perry-Casta–eda Library Map Collection, mentioned above. Its list of general map sites, country map sites, U.S. state map sites, international city map sites, electronic cartographic reference resources, historical map sites, and weather map sites deservedly gets mentioned more often than any other such listing on the World Wide Web. Another good source site is that of the John R. Borchert Map Library at the University of Minnesota. Most notable is their list of map library sites in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Many of these libraries do not include electronic versions of maps on their World Wide Web sites (though more and more do), but most include descriptions their collections, visitor policies, hours of operation, and so forth. Finally, some commercial historic map enterprises have developed their own World Wide Web sites. The Gold Bug out of Alamo, California, sells photocopies of historic maps (most of which are copyright free) as well as some geographic computer software; catalogs can be ordered through their site, and demonstration copies of their software can be downladed. One of the interesting features of the Gold Bug site is the inclusion of downloadable electronic versions of historic maps, such as John Smith's 1614 map of New England. The Heritage Map Museum, an antiquarian map and book gallery and auction house in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, places its auction lists on the World Wide Web (along with descriptions of its educational, consultation, and appraisal services). While the visual catalog is not yet on the World Wide Web, one can imagine that soon many aution houses will advertise electronically rather than by World, mentioned elsewhere in this issue, has its own World Wide Web site that includes the table of contents of its current issue, several electronic versions of articles from the current and past issues (including illustrations), and "CyberSites," a column about places on the Internet with cartographic connections. The World Wide Web now serves as one of the best links for cartographic needs-historical and contemporary-for many types of research. As this portion of the Internet grows, so too will the variety of Roanoke colonization-related map sites.
Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA): Borchert Map Library, University of Minnesota: The Gold Bug: Hargrett Library Rare Map Collection, University of Georgia: The Heritage Map Museum: Interactive Atlas, MapQuest: James Ford Bell Map Collection, University of Minnesota: The Map Case, Bodleian Library Map Room: Mercator's World: Perry-Casta–eda Library Map Collection, University of Texas at Austin: TIGER Map Service (TMS): Xerox PARC Map Viewer:
http://mapweb.parc.xerox.com/map/ Top
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