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The Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript
Library at the University of Georgia maintains a collection
of more than 800 historic maps spanning nearly 500 years,
from the sixteenth century through the early twentieth century.
The collection provides a graphic resource upon which scholars
can draw in re-discovering the minds and movements of early
American explorers, revolutionary statesmen, cultural figures
and politicians represented by the library's book and manuscript
collections.
Although not limited to a single geographic subject, the
collection heavily emphasizes the State of Georgia and the
surrounding region. To locate maps of geographic regions
or time periods not represented on this web site, please
visit one of the sites listed below.
Here
the researcher will find an America drawn by cartographers
who imagined the New
World based upon the earliest explorations of the Eastern
coastline, as well as the geographically maturing images
of mapmakers whose creations reflect an increasing European
expedition into the American continent. A colonial
presence manifested itself in forts, then settlements, and
then as a nation conceived of thirteen revolutionary
colonies.
The
largest of these colonies to break from the English crown,
revolutionary
Georgia, closes the eigtheenth century as a staging-area
or battleground in the struggle for independence. In the
next century, while the country as a whole undergoes union
and expansion and a bloody civil
war, the state wrestles with questions of property and
political boundaries, transforming itself from frontier
to New South.
Finally,
the Hargrett collection recognizes the early strategic importance
of Savannah
and the coast in Georgia's development. A group of maps
of this area complements those which acknowledge the role
of transportation
-- by rail and then highway -- in getting the crops to the
market, Sherman to the sea, and, nowadays, everybody to
Disney World.
| Important
information about the map images on this site: |
| These
maps were scanned from microfilm negatives at 2400dpi.
They are very large files, and the average JPEG size
is 400k. |
| Helpful
Links to other Map Collections |
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For
more historical maps:
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For
more contemporary maps:
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