The Americas Served by…

Postwar pictorial map highlighting Pan-American unity and cooperation.

This vibrant pictorial map of the majority of North and South America was drawn in 1948 by Kenneth Thompson. The image was designed to promote the routes and roles of major international travel companies identified within the title cartouche.

Illustrated vignettes highlight recreational, historic, and cultural attractions across the region, while a border of flags on either side identifies the nations serviced by the American Republics, Grace, Pan American Airways, and United Fruit Company lines. Their logos and primary methods of vehicular transportation are shown along the top and bottom. Text in the lower left provides wonderful contemporary hyperbole on the role of such companies in the spirit of international cooperation;

“Today our hemisphere stands united as never before. Together, the nations of the Americas stand on common ground and share a common cause. The “Good Neighbor” policy has become a positive world force. This has been made possible, in part, through the efforts of the transportation organizations whose services link the Americas. Their ships and planes have, over the years, developed and maintained the channels of trade and communications which brought into being a free inter-change of goods, of people and of ideas, and created a unity of interest throughout this Hemisphere.”