Colonial maps & historical places | Digital Archive Catalog
This public catalog guide introduces the The Land Before the State Lines collection in the Native Black Ancestry Digital Archive. Full archive browsing and available files are accessed through the member archive.
What this collection contains
Whose towns were on the map? Zoom in on colonial places, Indigenous nations, and changing boundaries across the East Coast, Southeast, and Great Lakes.
How to use the evidence
Record the mapmaker, date, edition or facsimile, and holding institution. Historical town symbols and colonial labels do not define modern tribal boundaries. Different copies may carry different catalog dates.
Indian Nations in the Southern Department — 1766 map
Shows many Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Cherokee towns, principal forts, rivers and routes across the Southeast. The historical map dates to 1766; this digitized sheet is a later facsimile of the manuscript held by the Clements Library. Town symbols and colonial labels help locate communities but do not define modern tribal boundaries.
Catalog citation: Map of the Indian nations in the Southern Department, original dated 1766, attributed in the catalog to John Gerar William De Brahm. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia, hmap1766d4; facsimile of Clements Library manuscript. Digital Library of Georgia. No Copyright—United States.
A New Discription of Carolina — circa 1671
John Ogilby and James Moxon’s early map of Carolina, shown here from the Royal Museums Greenwich copy cataloged circa 1671. It includes the Charleston area, rivers, settlement names and a decorative scene. A separate high-resolution facsimile cataloged under 1672 is also displayed below.
Catalog citation: John Ogilby and James Moxon, A new description of Carolina by order of the Lords Proprietors, circa 1671. Royal Museums Greenwich, F0333. Additional facsimile: University of South Carolina, South Caroliniana Library, Map 1672 No. 1 Size 2 c. 1, sclmaps/523.
Source information and access
Catalog summaries describe the materials and their research context. Consult each member record for its full citation, available scans, and any transcription or curator notes. If a creator, date, or repository is unidentified, treat that information as unresolved rather than inferred.
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