Mapping an Atlantic World, circa 1500, and its companion website, present the first maps and charts that depicted the Atlantic. I argue that the Atlantic World moved from the periphery to the center of world maps and charts beginning in 1500. A paradigmatic shift in how the world was conceptualized began, and as a result the Atlantic became (and remained) the central space on world maps. Moreover, the surviving charts and maps from this era promoted the possibilities for trade, colonization, evangelism through visual imagery. Decorative compass roses, animals, landscapes, and native peoples all communicated the accessibility of distant places. Although individual maps fell out of date, new map incorporated their imagery. Repeating from map to map, this visual vocabulary created a new way of seeing the world, with an interconnected Atlantic World at its center. Published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2020, the book weaves together scholarship from two separate academic fields: historical cartography and Atlantic history. To purchase the book, please click on the following link to Johns Hopkins University Press: https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/mapping-atlantic-world-circa-1500

The companion website to Mapping an Atlantic World offers readers a chance to explore the maps and figures in greater depth. Interested readers can read more about the individual maps studied and access links to the libraries and archives where the originals are held. To view the companion website, please click on this link: http://acm5.blogs.rice.edu/

To listen to an interview about the book, please click on this link: https://atlanticworld.transistor.fm/episodes/mapping-an-atlantic-world-interview-with-alida-metcalf

Reviews:

Faktorovich, Anna (2020). The Propaganda That Shaped the Maps of the “New” World. Pennsylvania Literary Journal 12:3, 17-19.

Seemann, J. (2021). Review of Mapping an Atlantic World, Circa 1500. Cartographic Perspectives, (98).

Kennedy, N.  (2021) “Review: Metcalf, Mapping an Atlantic World, circa 1500.” Global Maritime History.

Krueger, Laura. (2021). “Book Review: Mapping an Atlantic World, Circa 1500.” Western Association of Map Libraries, 53:1.

Koot, Christian J. (2021). “Review of Mapping an Atlantic World, circa 1500, by Alida C. Metcalf.“ Journal of Latin American Geography. 20:3, 208-210.

Greer, Allan. (2022) “Mapping an Atlantic World, circa 1500. Alida C. Metcalf. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020. xviii 224 pp. $54.95. – Nature and Culture in the Early Modern Atlantic. Peter C. Mancall. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018. 164 pp. $29.95. Renaissance Quarterly, 75(2), 688-690. doi:10.1017/rqx.2022.173,

Wolters, Timothy S. (2022). “Alida C. Metcalf, Mapping an Atlantic World, circa 1500 by Timothy S. Wolters.” The Northern Mariner / Le Marin Du Nord, 32(1), 107–110. https://doi.org/10.25071/2561-5467.938

Berson A.(2022). ” Mapping an Atlantic World, Circa 1500.” Revue d’histoire de L’Amerique francaise 75:4, 136-139.

Braccio, Nathan.(2023).  “The Place of Maps in Early American History.” Early American Literature 58, no. 1: 185-199. doi:10.1353/eal.2023.0009.