Browse Items (258 total)

Containing patches of trees to represent forests, this layer is interesting because it shows potential areas to be navigated around, used as possible protection, or used to acquire building resources. As depicted in the multi-perspectival…

Containing small illustrations of creatures, this layer is interesting because it reflects another type of commodity for use as a trade resource: fur. Here we see bears, foxes, beavers, etc. To me, it can also depict a level of artistic play that the…

Containing areas of settlement, this layer is fascinating because when isolated, it more clearly suggests purposes behind the accumulated locations. These reasons may include aesthetic preferences or for strategic (military or for trade) uses.

Elevation above sea level is marked by shading in four degrees, with darker colors indicating areas of higher elevation.

National and regional (oblast') borders, as well as borders lower-level divisions (okrugi, Ukrainian okruhy) are marked with colored lines offset by complimentary shading.

Major cities and towns are marked with large pink stars; major rivers are marked in blue and labeled.

Railways and flight routes are marked with pencil; railways are marked with hatched lines and flight paths are marked with dotted lines.

This layer contains a wash of three distinct colors: bright red for free states, dark blue-gray for slave states, and green for territories that were, as the map’s title calls it, “open to slavery or freedom by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise”…

One of the things I noticed in exploring this map is that although state boundary lines are almost indiscernible, state and territory place names hold an outsize importance in the visual hierarchy. The text for state and territory names is in an…

At first, the mountains appear to be a relatively unimportant feature of the map, and it is true that they occupy relatively little physical space on the page. The mountains that are represented are done so in a way that connects them in continuous…