The Cartography of American Colonization Database Project

FAIN: HD-50495-08

Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (Champaign, IL 61801-3620)
Scott Max Edelson (Project Director: April 2008 to December 2010)

The development of a database of 1000 historical maps illustrating the trajectory of colonization in the Americas. The database will provide a searchable introduction to the mapping of the western hemisphere in the era of European expansion, ca. 1500-1800.

The Cartography of American Colonization Database (CACD) is a joint effort of S. Max Edelson and the Institute of Computing in the Humanities, Art and Social Science (I-Chass) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA at the University of Illinois. The database provides a highly searchable introduction to the mapping of the western hemisphere in the era of European expansion, ca. 1500-1800. Its first object is to gather and organize metadata, especially bibliographical information and links to high-resolution digital scans of historic maps, plans and charts. By featuring 1,000 Milestone Maps that illustrate colonization in the America's, the CACD will be the first universal digital cartobiliography to organize the increasing digital content available on the Web. Its innovative research modules will showcase the possibilities for map scholarship.