/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
45,309 Subscribers
Mexico in 1822. Made by Henry Charles Carey.
02:10 UTC
Map of Greece from the book "History of the Greek Revolution". 1832.
02:05 UTC
Ptolemy, 1511 in a printing by Jacobus Pentius (Venice)
20:23 UTC
World Map of Pomponius Mela, rotated for north up. From around the year 45, recreation is from 1898.
16:40 UTC
Edrisi, an Arabian geographer of the 11th century, theorized that the earth is like an egg, with half plunged in water. According to him, the known world forms only a single half of the egg, which floats in the great ocean like an egg in a basin.
16:33 UTC
"World cephalic index map" - Map from 1896 purportedly showing head size by region.
15:48 UTC
Guess the name of this map (Medium)
11:34 UTC
Guess what the age of this map is
11:22 UTC
Africa, 1609
Fooled around and fell in love today. She was removed from a book and while the text block is in great shape, it’s unidentified. Excited to do the research!
01:09 UTC
Tenochtitlán, Later Mexico City: View from 1617
18:55 UTC
South America in 1878
18:22 UTC
Ukrainian People's Republic, 1918.
06:08 UTC
De Bry and Le Moyne Map of Florida and Cuba. France, 1591.
09:42 UTC
1943 World War II Japanese Aeronautical Map of Australia
09:30 UTC
This is a board game from Great Britain, which consists of a world map on a stereographic projection, centered on London. 1770.
09:27 UTC
"Sekaizu Ichiran" - Countries of the world, their people, and distances from Japan. Also shows the continents (Asia, Europe, Libya [i.e. Africa], North and South America), the oceans, some capitals, the equator, and the tropics. 1800.
08:47 UTC
Ottoman world map, 1803.
08:40 UTC
Polder map of North-Holland by D. Kooiman, 1936
17:06 UTC
The UT Austin (then simply called UT) campus in 1950. Note that east side of what would become the Six Pack, as well as the Pharmacy building, are slated for future construction, and the outdoor theater next to Waggener Hall.
16:42 UTC
What is shown on this map?
I only know it is a map of places in Zuid-Holland. I found this inside the cover of a book from 1612 about the Eighty Years’ war and the liberation of the Netherlands. I’m curious about what is shown on this map and what is the context of it? Please help me understand, thank you!
17:55 UTC
North America Polar Regions | Baffin Bay to Lincoln Sea - This map of the Arctic regions, published in 1903 by the Hydrographic Office of the U.S. Department of the Navy shows the routes of three 19th-century British and American polar expeditions.
11:28 UTC
Map of Muscle Shoals Canal, Tennessee River (1890)[6302 x 2466]
11:25 UTC