When we look at a map, we assume it’s accurate, that it will show us where to go, how far away someplace is and where we are located in the world.
But maps are products of their time. And that means they change.
When you look at many of the maps in a new collection at ASU’s Hayden Library, you are supposed to be a little disoriented.
The historic maps in the exhibition, called "Greater Arizona: Mapping Place, History and Transformation," show the Southwest region surrounding Arizona, but they don’t exactly look the way we see it now. They show the shifting territories, borders and people who have inhabited this area over its history.
I recently got a tour of the exhibit from one of its curators. Theresa Avila is program coordinator of the map collection at ASU’s School of Transborder Studies.
