Interpret the Evidence and Put It in Context

Document Links:

Document 1.1 CHRISTOPHER AND BARTOLOMEO COLUMBUS, Map of Europe and North Africa (c. 1490)

Document 1.2 Piri Reis Map (1513)

Document 1.3 Dauphin Map of Canada (c. 1543)

Document 1.4 Map of Cuauhtinchan (1550)

INTERPRET THE EVIDENCE

  1. How did the mapmakers who created Documents 1.2 and 1.3 represent the lands being discovered and claimed by various European nations?

  2. What were the different purposes of the various maps included here?

  3. What elements other than geographical features appear on these maps, and what were they intended to symbolize?

  4. Compare the Cuauhtinchan map (Document 1.4) with those created by Europeans. What are the major differences? What do you think these differences reveal about the cultures of the mapmakers?

PUT IT IN CONTEXT

  1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of modern mapmaking compared with older mapmaking?

  2. What has been gained and what has been lost in the transition from one to the other?

Thinking through Sources forExploring American Histories, Volume 1Printed Page 5