CARIBMAP: about this database

Caribmap is database of map images of the West Indies. It serves as a tool for geographers, historians, and scientists interested in the cartographic history of the islands. For example, the history of a place name can be important for a taxonomist working with old collections of plants or animals. Often, names on recent maps are different from those on earlier maps. In some cases, villages have disappeared; in other cases, they have been renamed. Many rivers, mountains, peninsulas, and islets also have had different names in the past. By tracing the history of these name changes through old maps it may be possible to answer some otherwise unresolved questions.

Click on the map to access a high-resolution, zoom-able version!

This database also will be of interest to historians. Access to many of these antique maps has been limited to those who can afford to purchase them (if available) or locate them in the rare documents section of some libraries. I would like to change this by making the images available to anyone with a computer and access to the web, for research purposes. If you wish to reproduce any image, please first ask permission.

This database will evolve. If you have any maps not shown here that you would like to donate, I will gladly accept! If you have access to a scanner and would like to donate a scanned image of a map not shown, I will gladly accept that too. However, single images are preferred, so please "splice together" any maps scanned in sections. The jpeg map images displayed here are about 2500-4500 x 2500-4500 pixels and the files are ~15 megabytes in size (highest level jpegs). Some are greatly compressed jpegs (= "low jpegs"), but the clarity of those is not as good so I prefer the least compressed jpegs (= "high jpegs"). In general I do not accept images from digital cameras because they are often of insufficient quality and resolution. All text on map must be readable and sharp. Please supply as much info as possible about the map. You will be acknowledged in the database as providing the map image.

Blair Hedges

sbh1-at-psu.edu
Hedgeslab website