One of the first maps of Mars, published by an Italian astronomer in 1877, with its pattern of canals, fueled belief in intelligent life forms on the distant red planet—a hope that continued into the 1960s. Although the Martian canals have long since been dismissed as a famous error in the history of science, K. Maria D. Lane argues that there was nothing accidental about these early interpretations. Indeed, she argues, the construction of Mars as an incomprehensibly complex and engineered world both reflected and challenged dominant geopolitical themes during a time of major cultural, intellectual, political, and economic transition in the Western world.

Geographies of Mars telescopes in on a critical period in the development of the geographical imagination, when European imperialism was at its zenith and American expansionism had begun in earnest. Astronomers working in the new observatories of the American Southwest or in the remote heights of the South American Andes were inspired, Lane finds, by their own physical surroundings and used representations of the Earth’s arid landscapes to establish credibility for their observations of Mars. With this simple shift to the geographer’s point of view, Lane deftly explains some of the most perplexing stances on Mars taken by familiar protagonists such as Percival Lowell, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Lester Frank Ward. 

A highly original exploration of geography’s spatial dimensions at the beginning of the twentieth century, Geographies of Mars offers a new view of the mapping of far-off worlds.

For centuries the Gough Map has amazed observers with its remarkable detail and baffled historians with its hidden secrets: who made it and why was it made? This gorgeously illustrated volume offers possible answers to these questions with a detailed examination of the map that employs the latest in technology, cartographic theories, and historical research.

Recent digitization of the Gough Map has made it more legible than at any other time since its arrival at the Bodleian Library in 1809. This work utilizes new georectification technology to project a modern map of Britain over the Gough Map, revealing the incredible accuracy of the 700-year-old manuscript. In stunningly detailed reproduction, The Gough Map charts a vast array of cities, routes, and landmarks, including the principal medieval settlements of Bristol, Oxford and Norwich; the Severn, Thames, and Humber rivers; the loop of the Wear at Durham; and routes between towns with distances marked in Roman numerals.

The volume also features a color fold-out print of the Gough map, as well as numerous close-up images of each area. The Gough Map offers an unparalleled opportunity to examine this fascinating example of medieval mapmaking.