Map of the World on Mercator’s Projection

The world of the mid-1870s.

This detailed world map was copywritten by J.B. Beers in 1874 and originally published in an atlas the following year. Bold red lines denote important (from an American perspective) international boundaries while toponyms identify a variety of settlements, political entities, and geographic features.

Popular steamship routes, ocean currents, and an interesting mass of ‘marine vegetation’ fill the (hand-colored) blue waters. Dotted lines reflect hypothetical coastlines and river courses. The interior of Africa, Australia, and the Arctic Circle all remained largely unexplored at the time of publication.