Atlas

This map was chosen in honor of America’s Independence Day, as it depicts the 13 original British colonies. In my opinion, the coloring and font of the map make it incredibly beautiful. It’s important to remember that maps are not just tools to communicate information, but can also be works of art. Two aspects of this map are especially interesting. One is that the boundaries of several of the colonies - Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts - do not correspond with the boundaries of today’s states. This is important to realize, especially because many maps of the 13 colonies do not acknowledge the difference. I also find it interesting that 3 of the colonies controlled territory that is now part of different states. Virginia controlled part of what is now West Virginia, New York controlled part of what is now Vermont, and Massachusetts controlled what is now Maine. I would be interested to know how these separate states came to be. I’ll conclude by pointing out that this map of the 13 colonies is my 13th post on this blog!