Discovery and Exploration
Many of these maps reflect the European Age of Discoveries, dating from the late 15th century to the 17th century when Europeans were concerned primarily with determining the outline of the continents as they explored and mapped the coastal areas and the major waterways. Also included are 18th and 19th century maps documenting the exploration and mapping of the interior parts of the continents, reflecting the work of Lewis and Clark and subsequent government explorers and surveyors.
Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Perspectives
Portrays the early history of the commonwealth of Puerto Rico through first-person accounts, political writings, and histories. Among the topics it highlights are the land and its resources, relations with Spain, the competition among political parties, reform efforts, and recollections by veterans of the Spanish-American War. The materials in the collection were published between 1831 and 1929 and consist of 39 political pamphlets, 13 monographs, and 1 journal.
The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures
Features 68 motion pictures produced between 1898 and 1901 of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine Revolution. These films were made by the Edison Manufacturing Company and the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company and consist of actualities filmed in the U.S., Cuba, and the Philippines, showing troops, ships, notable figures, and parades, as well as reenactments of battles and other war-time events.
The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress
A special presentation timeline that includes Drake and his contemporaries.
Westward by Sea: A Maritime Perspective on American Expansion,1820-1890
This selection of items from Mystic Seaport's archival collections includes logbooks, diaries, letters, business papers, and published narratives of voyages and travels. The unique maritime perspective of these materials offers a rich look at the events, culture, beliefs, and personal experiences associated with the settlement of California, Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, and the Pacific Northwest. A number of photographs, paintings, maps, and nautical charts are also included to illustrate the story of Americans' western seaborne travel. Various themes are touched upon, including whaling, life at sea, shipping, women at sea, and native populations.
In Global Gateways
Parallel Histories; Spain, the United States, and the American Frontier
Kraus Collection: Spanish American Manuscripts
The Hans P. Kraus Collection consists of 162 manuscripts relating to the history of Spanish America during the colonial period, 1492 to 1819. The Kraus Collection was presented to the library in 1969 and includes manuscripts relating to various topics including government, exploration, the Inquisition, civil and viceregal administration, the history of Florida, and the history of the Aztecs. Some manuscripts carry the signatures of Emperor Charles V and his wife, Isabella of Portugal.
1492: An Ongoing Voyage
Describes both pre- and post-contact America, as well as the Mediterranean world at the same time. Compelling questions are raised, such as: Who lived in the Americas before 1492? Who followed in the wake of Columbus? What was the effect of 1492 for Americans throughout the Western Hemisphere? This exhibition addresses these questions, as well as other related themes, including fifteenth century European navigation, the myths and facts surrounding the figure of Columbus, and the differences and similarities between European and American world views at the time of contact.
The Huexotzinco Codex, 1531
An eight-sheet document on amatl, a pre- European paper made in Mesoamerica. It is part of the testimony in a legal case against representatives of the colonial government in Mexico, ten years after the Spanish conquest in 1521. Huexotzinco (Way-hoat-ZINC-o) is a town southeast of Mexico City, in the state of Puebla. In 1521, the Nahua Indian people of the town were the allies of the Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortés, and together they confronted their enemies to overcome Moctezuma, leader of the Aztec Empire.
A New World
An online exhibition of the Library of Congress' treasures of New World maps.Rivers, Edens, Empires; Lewis and Clark and the Revealing of America
On April 7, 1805, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left Fort Mandan for points west, beginning the process of "filling in the canvas" of America. This exhibition features the Library's rich collections of exploration material documenting the quest to connect the East and the West by means of a waterway passage.Outside the Library of Congress
National Maritime Museum, (UK)
The Museum's mission is to work to illustrate for everyone the importance of the sea, ships, time and the stars and their relationship with people. There is a special section on explorers and leaders in which Sir Francis Drake is discussed.
The National Trust; Buckland Abbey, (UK)
The house built by Sir Richard Grenville, hero of The Revenge, incorporates the remains of a small but influential 13th-century Cistercian monastery. Later on, his great rival Sir Francis Drake lived at Buckland during the turbulent period of the Armada, and the house contains interesting memorabilia from this time, including Drake's drum.