Guidelines for Evaluating Maps

As Jules Benjamin notes in his Student's Guide to History, "History is often displayed on maps.  The landscape of history is one of its most fundamental settings.  The rise and fall of empires, the course of wars, the growth of cities, the development of trade routes, and much more can be traced on maps of large areas. . . . To read a map, you must learn the key, which translates the symbols used on the map.  A line on a map may be a road, a river, or a gas pipeline.  The key tells you which it is.  The scale of a map tells you the actual distance of the area the map represents.  Maps are an important aid to understanding history because they display the physical relationship between places."  The following are some general tips for interpreting maps: 

1. Maps from the era of discovery show us that map making is not merely an issue of making pictures that correspond with reality. Quite the contrary, maps have a point of view and can help us understand how, historically, cultures have viewed each other and the greater world of which they are a part. This approach to maps helps us understand that the map makers of the sixteenth century were not simply ignorant or lacking the tools to make accurate maps but rather were, in a sense, making images that represented the best knowledge of the time. Maps, in other words, have a perspective and are rich sources of information about the mental and physical world of their creators.

2. Maps, modern or antique, should be examined with the same care as any other non-written historical source. Determine first the author of the map, the date it was produced, and the general purpose for which the map may have been designed. A map designed for sixteenth century explorers will include details vastly different from a modern automobile map.

3. Next, determine the type of map you are examining. The more common varieties of maps are raised relief, topographic, political, contour-line, natural resource, military, weather, satellite photographic, artifact, and bird’s-eye view maps. Also examine the techniques used for printing and producing the map. Was it sketched by hand? Was it generated from photographic or computer data sources? Was the map intended for mass distribution or rendered once for a specific purpose?

4. Maps typically contain particular features that aid in their use. Look on the map for a compass (noting north, south, west, and east), a scale (showing the relationship between distances on the map to actual distances), and a legend or key (relating special symbols or coloring to specific information). Most maps also contain a title that will give important clues as to the map's purpose, the name of its author, and the date on which it was produced.

5. Antique maps are often particularly rich and graphical. Look for a cartouche or decorative frame around most older maps. Royal insignia or coats of arms usually signify land claims. Detailed depictions of local animal life and human cultures can also be found on many maps. The oceans are often populated with fanciful and real beasts, notable currents or storm systems, as well as the ships of numerous nations.

6. For each map, try to determine what information the cartographer, or map maker, considered most important. What questions does this map answer? How does this information supplement the material in your textbook or lecture class? How might the events of the historical period you are studying have influenced or been influenced by the geography represented on the map? What information was not included on the map? What questions has this omission left unanswered?

7. Interactive maps are now possible thanks to computer technology.  While the form and contents of these maps vary widely, historical cartographers use interactive maps most often to demonstrate change over time, as in a sequence of battles in the course of a war or the spread of settlement over a longer time span.  They also use interactive maps to juxtapose multiple layers of information to explore, for example, the relationship in a particular area between political party affiliations, religious beliefs, and economic status.  To use an interactive map, first survey all of the available controls and options, asking of each why the cartographer included them on the map.  Then work through the various layers of the map, moving through time and/or adding and subtracting layers.