Exploration Maps Available at Ball State University Libraries

Columbus Day:  Mapping Where Christopher Columbus Discovered America

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library includes a collection of maps and atlases depicting the routes of European explorers. 

The map above (click to enlarge) shows the routes of Christopher Columbus’ journeys between Spain and the Caribbean.  The map was published by the National Geographic Society in 1986 and identified new evidence that marked Columbus’ landfall at Samana Cay, a large uninhabited island in the Bahamas.

Another map from the National Geographic Society, The Explorers, shows the voyages and travels of explorers beginning in A.D. 100 through the 1900’s and includes the exploration of the Arctic and Antarctica.

Historical Atlas of Exploration: 1492-1600 and Atlas of Exploration are also available from the Atlas Collection.  These atlases include maps and charts about the great discoveries in geography and mapping.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer, and atlases circulate for 28 days or longer.

For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.