Curated OER
Da Vinci's Renaissance
Students study the Renaissance through an examination of the life and accomplishments of Leonardo Da Vinci.
Curated OER
Connections Between World Events, Geography and the Human Quest for Knowledge
Students examine the relationship between innovations in geography and world events. Using maps, they report different information from a spatial perspective. They develop hypothesis about how man's quest for knowledge has impacted the...
University of California
World History for Us All: Getting Our Bearings: Maps of Time, Space, and History
Understanding history requires students to be able to see the big picture. This teaching unit introduces students to tools they can use to investigate history. Topics covered include cartography, chronography, and maps of space, time and...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Bridging World History: Maps, Time, and World History
Learn how map projections and chronological constructs are used in the study of world history and help us to understand and interpret the past. Part of a larger site on world history, this unit on maps offers complete reading,...
Other
Ancient History: 10 Ancient Greek Inventions and Discoveries Still Used Today
Ten of the important inventions and innovations of the ancient Greeks are described. These include the water mill, the odometer, alarm clocks, cartography, the Olympics, geometry, Hippocratic medicine, philosophy, democracy, and...
Rice University
Rice University: Cynthia Lanius: Mathematics of Cartography
Can there be a connection between map making and math? Explore the mathematics of cartography in this resource that integrates web-based instruction, mathematical problem solving, geometry, history, and art. Interesting information and...
Library of Congress
Loc: Civil War Maps: History of Mapping the Civil War
Investigate the importance of mapping to both the Union and the Confederates in planning their military strategy. From the Library of Congress.
City University of New York
Map Projection Basics: Bits of Map Projection History
Surveys the ideas of Claudius Ptolemy (90-170 AD) in regard to the shape of the world and his influence on the history of mapmaking.
Rice University
Rice Univ.: Cynthia Lanius: Mathematics of Cartography: History of Mapmaking
Surveys the history of mapmaking from prehistoric to current times with an illustrated chronology.
Mariners' Museum and Park
Age of Exploration: Changing View of the World: The Development of Map Making
Read a summary of the history of map-making and the maps that were produced as a result of European exploration in the Americas. See examples of these maps and find out more about each one in this exhibit from the Mariners' Museum.
University of Calgary
European Voyages of Exploration: Geography and Cartography
This site provides information on mapmaking and cartograohy of the early explorers. Includes pictures of maps.
ibiblio
Ibiblio: 1492: An Ongoing Vogage: Inventing America
Archived exhibition reveals how European writers and mapmakers thought about America during the Age of Discovery. Describes the allegorical images Europeans sometimes used to portray America and features the Gutierrez map, drawn in 1562,...
Pamela Seed
Rice: Latitude: The Art and Science of 15th Century Navigation
This is a great site to read about how navigation began in Europe and what tools were used. Make sure to read the segments on coastal navigation, maps, and ocean currents.
University of Oregon
University of Oregon: Interactive Nolli Map of Rome: 1748 Map of Rome
Interactive Nolli Map introduces students to Rome and the structure of its urban form based on the work of eighteenth-century Italian architect Giambattista Nolli. Using the map engine, navigate through the city at a variety of scales,...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: What Maps Tell Us
Maps are subjective, and like any form of art and design they have stories to tell and reveal a lot about the times in which they were produced. Maps involve selections of information, human editing, and a visual language legible to the...
Other
Cartographic Images: Late Medieval Maps 1300 1500
Find some incredible maps of early cartographers. What did they know of the world then? Did they know it was round? Take a look at this site.
EL Education
El Education: Flower City Atlas
3rd grade students in Rochester, New York, created this historical/environmental guide to the City of Rochester as part of a learning expedition on local history. The guiding questions were: How did Rochester become the Flower City? How...
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: History Sourcebook: France 1360 the Peace of Bretigny
This Fordham University map shows France's boundaries in 1360, which lands were ceded to Edward, and the path of his march to Calais.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: History Sourcebook: France in the Late 15th Century
France 1461 is divided into various duchies, provinces, and these are marked with the names of their rulers (i.e., the Duc d'Alencon).
National Library of France
National Library of France: Heaven and Earth
Learn how art through the ages has been influenced by the Earth and the heavens. See paintings that attempted to explain the Earth's creation from a scientific standpoint, sacred architecture that provided a place to worship the heavens,...
Library of Congress
Loc: Mapping the National Parks
A rich and historically significant collection of maps of various national parks throughout the United States. Features special sections on Yellowstone, Acadia, the Grand Canyon and the Smoky Mountains. Includes historical photographs of...
Library of Virginia
Virginia Memory: Blank Space: Mapping the Unknown
How did early maps show the mapmakers' perception of the known world? Early mapmakers used maps drawn from coastal explorations, land travels, and even information heard word of mouth from American Indians or from colonists or traders....
Curated OER
Image: The Mariner's Compass
A look at mapmaking during the time of the explorers. The site profiles various mapmaking tools and the history of mapmaking from the 16th to the 18th century.
Curated OER
Photograph: A 17th Century Astrolabe Found Near Cobden, Ontario
A look at mapmaking during the time of the explorers. The site profiles various mapmaking tools and the history of mapmaking from the 16th to the 18th century.