Thank you to Ancestry.com/blog by Jessica Murray Oct 10, 2014
Becoming an expert in geography goes hand in hand with studying family history, especially if you had ancestors that never seemed to stay in one place. Learning where county lines were drawn and what the agricultural makeup was like in the regions our ancestors lived helps give color to their stories and understand why they settled where they did.
Today, we highlight a few of our favorite map collections in hopes they can help you bring more color to your ancestor’s story. . .
Becoming an expert in geography goes hand in hand with studying family history, especially if you had ancestors that never seemed to stay in one place. Learning where county lines were drawn and what the agricultural makeup was like in the regions our ancestors lived helps give color to their stories and understand why they settled where they did.
Today, we highlight a few of our favorite map collections in hopes they can help you bring more color to your ancestor’s story. . .
Ordnance Survey National Grid maps, 1940s-1960s are a fantastic resource of post-war maps of London and Edinburgh, complete with a digital overlay the historical maps on present day Google maps. Pretty neat! -
This layer will expand geographically as we scan additional sheets in the series, and currently just covers Edinburgh andLondon.
This layer will expand geographically as we scan additional sheets in the series, and currently just covers Edinburgh andLondon.
- Browse maps of Edinburgh (surveyed 1944-1963) :
- As individual sheets using a zoomable map
- As a zoomable overlay on a modern Google or Bing map
- As a seamless zoomable layer side-by-side with modern Google and OS maps
- Browse maps of London (surveyed 1947-1963) :
- As individual sheets using a zoomable map
- As a zoomable overlay on a modern Google or Bing map
- As a seamless zoomable layer side-by-side with modern Google and OS maps
Panoramic maps were all the rage in the late 1800s through early 1900s. In the Library of Congress panoramic maps collection you can find more than 1400+ panoramic maps from rural towns to large cities which are not only works of art in their own, but also provide a more visual experience to how cities flourished through the centuries. - See more at: http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/10/10/what-we-are-reading-october-10th-edition/#sthash.0sJ6gi0c.dpuf
The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World offers clues into how our ancestor’s migrated across the continents centuries ago. You can select point A to point B and which season and the model shows you the most common route travelers would have taken plus, the amount of money they would have paid for their voyage.
Spanning one-ninth of the earth's circumference across three continents, the Roman Empire ruled a quarter of humanity through complex networks of political power, military domination and economic exchange. These extensive connections were sustained by pre-modern transportation and communication technologies that relied on energy generated by human and animal bodies, winds, and currents.
Conventional maps that represent this world as it appears from space signally fail to capture the severe environmental constraints that governed the flows of people, goods and information. Cost, rather than distance, is the principal determinant of connectivity.
The county level is a great place to start when researching family history, but how do you know if or when county lines changed over the decades? The Newberry Library has the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries which successfully mapped boundary changes at state and national levels and is available for FREE to download. -
See more at: http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/10/10/what-we-are-reading-october-10th-edition/#sthash.VYkeUDwi.dpuf
See more at: http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/10/10/what-we-are-reading-october-10th-edition/#sthash.VYkeUDwi.dpuf