Follow these links to learn more about topographical mapping across the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, a chronological spread enabled by Cartography in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Roger J. P. Kain and Judith A. Leimer, Volume Five of The History of Cartography. Select the title or corresponding map or image to read these companion articles to our 2025 outreach letter.
Please consider contributing your support to the international effort that is the History of Cartography Project – click “Make A Gift” at right to donate online!
(Click on the maps or essay titles.)
• The National Topographical Surveys and “Cartography” — Read project director Matthew Edney’s essay on the emergence and spread of systematic national surveys through the nineteenth century, some of their problems, and their importance for the very idea of “cartography.”
Atlas of India, appears in the essay and in Volume Five.
• Triangulation — Learn about about the process of triangulation as the foundation of modern systematic surveys.
Jørgen Henrik Rawert, Forelæsninger over den geometriske trigonometriske og militaire landmaaling tilligemed nivelleringen.
• Hydrographic Mapping — Explore the process of detailed inshore hydrographic mapping for modern navigation.
Charles-François Beautemps-Beaupré, Carte particulière des côtes de France (Entrée de la rade de Brest et partie méridionale du Chenal du Four) from his Pilote français [première partie] (Environs de Brest)
• 2025 Outreach Letter — Read a short introduction to the topic of national topographical surveys in either of these two online versions of a letter we mailed in December.
View it on-screen or or print, and cut out your own topographical bookmark! Mark your favorite book or atlas and think of the HoC Project.