I’m still not 100% decided on my question, however, I know the topic is going to include the use of cartography in this era of colonialism. My list of sources isn’t final, but I’ve been looking at using the following:
My primary source will probably be Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholomaei traditionem et Americi Vespucii aliorumque lustrationes. (Its a mouthful, but it is a map from around 1507, with perhaps the first depiction of the Americas.)
My secondary sources are a little less unique:
Urban Cartography in Latin America during the Colonial Period.
Cartography and Power in the Conquest and Creation of New Spain.
Cartography as a Tool of Colonization.
Theory and the History of Cartography.
This is a really interesting topic. I like your primary source. I think it would be very interesting to compare that map to a current day map to see the differences in the depiction of the Americas.
One thing that you could look at is how accurate the maps made at this time were. If the maps were not so accurate, did this lead to any incidents of traveling to the wrong place? You could also look at how these maps were made, what strategies did they use to draw a land they had never seen before and could never see from an ariel view what they look like. Another thing you could do is to compare different maps, see what specific things they may all include, or what is one missing that another one has. With that idea, you could look at who each map was particularly made for, who the audience was and what the creator thought it was important that they know,
I think this is a really cool idea. I’d definitely be interested to see the evolution of how maps of the Americas evolved as more land was ‘discovered’ by Europeans, and how it advanced to include the larger land masses, as well as how the new world’s relation to Asia would be depicted.
I feel as though understanding the role of cartography in this time period would really open many peoples eyes to so much during this time of cultural development. I feel as though this will be very interesting to learn more about!
Shoutout geography on this one! I think it would be cool to see if you can find multiple maps from indigenous perspectives seeing what scale of the land they had around them. Cool to compare how these would look next to European maps.
I like your idea about a close examination of a single (important!) map as a way to think about colonialism/ colonial science. Come see me if you’re looking for secondary source article ideas.