Inland Journeys, Native Maps

Abstract

Reading maps that are drawn according to conventions other than western scientific cartography usually involves translation of the foreign map signs into familiar equivalents. Eighteenth-century cartographers followed this procedure when they added Native "information" to their maps of North America, blurring the line between European surveys and Amerindian reports, anticipating the replacement of this dubious knowledge as civilization penetrated to the continental interior. Twentieth-century historians of cartography could discover the richness of mapping conventions very different from their own if they opted for intercultural dialogue rather than translation.