llysakowski:

Cartography time maps.

A beautiful series of illustrations mapping the expansion of civilization as cartography breaking through the clouds of the ignorance.

Published by Edward Quin in 1830 as the “An Historical Atlas; In a Series of Maps of the World as Known at Different Periods”. 

• The first map in the series is B.C. 2348. The Deluge.
• The third is B.C. 753. The Foundation Of Rome.
• The eighth is A.D. 1. The Roman Empire In The Augustan Age.
• And the sixteenth is A.D. 1498. The Discovery Of America.

Via: the David Rumsey Map Collection

This. Is. Awesome.

[Edit: Someone rightfully pointed out that these are Eurocentric. This is true, yet I still appreciate their artistic value.]

(via fuckyeahcartography)