Bringing together a rich and diverse collection of 100 historical maps from the Paleolithic to the present, The Oxford Map Companion: One Hundred Sources in World History illustrates how peoples and cultures throughout the human past have imagined their worlds. The collection--which includes many never-before published maps--spans a broad spectrum of human time and cultural diversity. It also features a wide range of map types from every continent, including stick charts, porcelain maps, maps created on sealskin, celestial maps, powder-horn and buckskin maps, silk "escape maps," radio maps, ordnance surveys, subway maps, and maps of the Internet. Combining cutting-edge scholarship and accessibility, renowned scholar and award-wining author Patricia Seed presents new and innovative ways of looking at maps. Organized both chronologically and cartographically, nearly every historical map is accompanied by a locator map and/or schematic diagram--personally crafted by the author--that helps the reader to see the map in its geographical context and to grasp the meaning of its symbols, labels, and overall layout. A master chronology of world history in the front of the book and timelines at the beginning of each Part set the history of mapping in a global framework. Finally, every map includes a corresponding QR code that will allow readers to instantly explore a Google Earth outline of the area covered in the historical map on their smartphones. Visit the companion website at http://www.mapcompanion.org/. Seed, a professor at UC Irvine, has written an attractive, compact history of maps. Spanning more than 45,000 years—from Stone Age cave maps of the stars to Google Maps in 2013—100 maps are each described on a two-page spread. The variety and types of cartography are amazing—a polder map of Delfland in 1750, a map on a powder horn showing a route from Albany to Canada in 1757, and the landing chart for a runway at Heathrow Airport in 2006. A QR code on each page produces a Google Maps overlay for the present location. Recommended for all types of libraries where there is an interest in cartography. --Christine Bulson "Patricia Seed's Oxford Map Companion is a landmark achievement. Seed has produced a magisterial and concise yet authoritative account of mapmaking, explaining its centrality to our understanding of world history."--Jerry Brotton, Queen Mary University (London) , author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps "Superb pictures, expert commentaries, accessible language, and a breadth of knowledge few scholars can rival: Patricia Seed gives us an incomparable resource for studying and teaching the history of maps."--Felipe Fernández-Armesto, University of Notre Dame , author of Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration "An eclectic and informative set of original maps, spanning the full scope of the global historical record. The reproductions are excellent and Seed's text is both edifying and entertaining. The Oxford Map Companion will be of keen interest both to map enthusiasts and to teachers and students of world history."--Martin Lewis, Stanford University , coauthor of The Myth of Continents "Seed has produced a fascinating, diverse and thoughtful book, ideal as a teaching resource and an introduction to the breadth and chronological span of the globe's many cartographic traditions." -- Times Higher Education A rich and diverse collection of 100 historical maps illustrating how peoples and cultures throughout the human past have imagined their worlds Patricia Seed is Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of several books including American Pentimento: The Pursuit of Riches and the Invention of "Indians" (2001) and Ceremonies of Possession in Europe's Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640 (1995). In recent years, Seed has been intensively involved in research on old and new questions in cartography. She bring her skills in the use of digital imaging technologies (GIS and graphic design software) to the study--not only to reformulate the questions of the history of map making--but to offer historical and comparative scholarship new tools of analysis and new ways of representing the knowledge that it produces.