/r/oldmaps
Beautiful and illuminating maps from around the world, from the oldest examples known to those created around 1950.
Welcome!
We're interested in sharing interesting, beautiful or informative examples of the cartographer's trade, from their emergence in the ancient Near East up to a somewhat arbitrary end-date of 1950 A.D.
We'll happily accept historical maps! If you're posting a map, please provide a description and date in the title.
Related Subreddits
r/Maps - If you're interested in maps and cartography generally (or modern maps specifically).
r/MapPorn - For gorgeous wallpaper-size maps of all descriptions.
r/Geography - If you're curious about the geography that informed historic mapmapkers.
r/ArtHistory - For background on the artistic styles that influenced mapmakers through history.
r/History and r/MedievalHistory - For historical background.
r/MapMaking - If you're getting the feeling you'd like to try your hand at cartography.
r/Vexillology - If you're interested in more ways people symbolically stake out territory. For everything you need to know about flags.
r/ImaginaryMaps - For maps from fictional stories, books, films, television programs, video games, and comics.
r/WorldBuilding - For sharing your worlds and discussing the many aspects of creating new universes.
r/OldNews - For news that isn't new. News from history, news from the past.
r/Gis - For the technical side of cartography and geography.
r/PaperTowns - For well-crafted pictorial maps, detailed panoramic cityscapes, broad aerial vistas, intricate bird's-eye views and even full 3D reconstructions.
/r/oldmaps
44,578 Subscribers
Map of Hong Kong/Macau/Canton (1945)
13:07 UTC
Niew Nederland/New York, from Groote Nieuwe Vermeerderde Zee-Atlas ofte Water-Werelt by Johannes van Keulen, 1688 [USA]
20:51 UTC
The Ambassadors (Holbein). 1533 detail, inverted.
09:18 UTC
Map of Poland and Hungary, 1552
20:16 UTC
Map of Flensburg 1648
17:13 UTC
1682 Sicily map
I found this map in my grandma's closet. My grandpa had this ancient map passion and was born in sicily, so i'm not too surprised. It was sent to "Don Gaspar de Aro e Gusman" and every line is in a strange mix between latin and ancient italian.
21:08 UTC
World Map (from 'The Nuremberg Chronicle'). Michael Wolgemut (1434/1437–1519).
14:38 UTC
A gorgeous map from 1635 of the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands
09:55 UTC
The German Language in Bohemia (1900 census), published in 1904 [8265 x 6814]
18:12 UTC
The Mitchell Map from 1755 - this is the most comprehensive map of eastern North America made during the colonial era [9749 x 6759]
07:31 UTC
John Gibson’s “An Accurate Map of the British Empire in Nth. America as settled by the Preliminaries in 1762.”
Things were about to change. Happy July 4th!
15:32 UTC
1729 Ottoman Map of the Mediterranean
16:58 UTC
Hanoi 1875
20:23 UTC
1888 Map of the Mekong Delta
15:38 UTC
Map of Europe From,''Augustus Mitchell's Primary Geography'', published in 1845.
20:44 UTC
1859 map of Bolivia, from the first proper survey of the republic - by Juan Ondarza [6779 x 8506]
06:25 UTC
Map of the levant - 1930s
Not dated, probably, anywhere between 1923 and 1946? Syria, Lebanon under French mandate Irak, Israel/Palestine under English
14:21 UTC
1876 railway map of Pennsylvania - by Joseph A. Caldwell [9929 x 6390]
08:10 UTC
1909 Ottoman map of Syria and Beirut [4060 x 9805]
06:08 UTC
Globe from the 1730s - by John Senex
23:04 UTC
Al-Idrisi’s Medieval World Map from 1154, produced in 1800 [3050 x 3157]
23:32 UTC
1886 map of the world, showing the extent of the British Empire [8149 x 7017]
07:21 UTC
1579 map of the Americas - by Abraham Ortelius [5885 x 4267]
22:38 UTC