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12 recordsLinked to original sources
Library of Congress1889

The Man of Commerce.

"The Man of Commerce" is a detailed map that conflates human anatomy with the American transportation system. Published in 1889 by the Land & River Improvement Company of Superior, Wisconsin, the map promotes Superior as a transportation hub and shows the routes of 29 railroads across the United States. The outline map of North America is superimposed by a cutaway diagram of the human body. The map's metaphor makes West Superior "the center of cardiac or heart circulation." The railways become major arteries. New York is "the umbilicus through which this man of commerce was developed." The explanatory notes conclude: "It is an interesting fact that in no other portion of the known world can any such analogy be found between the natural and artificial channels of commerce and circulatory and digestive apparatus of man." Use of the human body as a cartographic metaphor dates back at least to the 16th century, to the anthropomorphic map of Europe as a queen in Sebastian Münster's Cosmography (1570). This map may be the earliest application of this metaphor to North America. The cartographer was A.F. McKay, who in 1889 briefly served as the editor of the Superior Sentinel newspaper. The map was engraved by Rand McNally. The American Geographical Society Library acquired the map in 2009, aided in part by the Map Society of Wisconsin. The only other known copy of this map is in a private collection.

railroads↗
Library of Congress1920

Railway Map of Jamaica.

This map, produced in the 1920s by the Transportation Department of the United States Department of Commerce, shows the railroads and rail stations of Jamaica, at that time a crown colony within the British Empire. Also shown are the island's main roads and its three counties--Cornwall, Middlesex, and Surrey--and their borders. The scale of the map is in statute miles (1 mile = 1.61 kilometers). The Western Jamaica Connecting Railway was built in 1845. Running from Kingston to Angels, a distance of some 23 kilometers, it was the first railroad constructed anywhere outside Europe or North America. The Jamaican railroad system was expanded throughout the 1900s, mainly for the purpose of bringing sugar and other products to the ports of Kingston, Port Antonio, and Montego Bay. Expansion of the railway in the late-19th century opened up the interior of the country to farming and the establishment of banana and citrus plantations. The map is held in the Columbus Memorial Library of the Organization of American States (OAS). After approximately 300 years of British rule, Jamaica gained its independence in 1962. It joined the OAS in 1969.

great britain↗
Library of Congress1920

Railroad Map of British Honduras.

This map, produced in the 1920s by the Transportation Department of the United States Department of Commerce, shows the railroad network of British Honduras (present-day Belize). Under the Treaty of Versailles of 1783, the Spanish Empire granted Britain the right to harvest timber in the region between the Hondo and Belize Rivers. In 1862 the crown colony of British Honduras was established. Apart from British Guiana, it was the only British possession on the mainland of Latin America. The colony was important to Britain chiefly as a source of logwood and, later, mahogany. The railroads shown on the map are all quite small and were used primarily to transport lumber, sugar cane, and bananas to the coast. A proposed longer line from the port of Belize to Guatemala is indicated but was never built. The map also shows the colony's six administrative districts and the small number of towns and cities. British Honduras achieved full independence in 1981, becoming the country of Belize.

great britain↗
Library of Congress1925

Railroad Map of Trinidad.

This map, produced by the Transportation Department of the United States Department of Commerce in 1925, shows the railroad network of Trinidad. The main rail line in Trinidad was the Trinidad Government Railway, which originally was built in 1876 to connect the major city of Port of Spain with Arima. It later was extended to other inland towns. In addition to railroad lines and tramways, the map shows towns and counties and county boundaries. Originally claimed for Spain by Christopher Columbus in 1498, Trinidad was seized by Britain in 1797. With its much smaller sister island of Tobago, it became a single British colony in 1889. In the 19th century, the economy was dominated by agriculture, chiefly the production of sugarcane and cacao. Oil was discovered in 1857 and the petroleum industry developed from the 1860s onward. The colony of Trinidad and Tobago achieved independence in 1962.

colonies↗
Library of Congress1911

Property map of the Canal Zone showing property belonging to the United States of America, Panama R. R. Co., and lands claimed by private persons

"This large, detailed, map is from the collection of the Panama Canal Zone Library, which was transferred to the Library of Congress in 1978. This collection contains various maps, plans, and diagrams detailing the history of Panama and the construction of the Panama Canal over the ten-year period of 1904 to 1914. According to a note on the map, the "map shows the land in the Canal Zone that has been set apart for all Governmental purposes in the Canal Zone, to date, and whether the land belongs to the United States of America, the Panama Railroad Company, or to private individuals. It further indicates whether these reservations for Governmental purposes have been made for Canal Works, Fortifications, Lighting, Town sites, Reservoirs, Watersheds, or Miscellaneous purposes ... ." Colored markings on the map further subdivide U.S. lands into those acquired by treaty, by purchase, or from the French. France had initiated work on a canal across the isthmus in 1879, but the project stalled. Panama gained independence from Colombia in 1903 and the United States acquired from Panama the rights to build a canal, as well as bought the assets of the defunct French canal construction company. This map formed part of submissions to the United States House of Representatives Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce by Frank Feuille, head of the Department of Law of the Isthmian Canal Commission, at Ancon in the Canal Zone on December 22, 1911, and January 26, 1912." World Digital Library.

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Library of Congress1924

Railroad map of Porto Rico

Shows location of stations (centrales) where sugar cane was delivered for processing. Includes list of operating railroads in Puerto Rico. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as a raster image.

sugarcane↗
Library of Congress1883

Map exhibiting the several Pacific railroads

Detailed map of the continental United States indicating drainage, relief by hachures, international and state boundaries, cities & towns, forts, roads, and the railroad network. [From published bibliography]

union pacific railroad company↗