Maps and Images

Original maps record the visible landscape from an historical perspective. They include maps of explorers, for example John Smith and Sir Walter Raleigh whose map of Virginia is really the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Historical maps often distort distances and coordinates, record legendary monsters from the sea, or include icons of private companies, nationality, or even personal experience, such as John Smith's three Turks heads. Some also locate Indian villages and English settlements while others provide rare eyewitness encounters -- usually derived from the expeditionary journeys up numerous creeks, inlets, and rivers -- between explorers, indigenous peoples, and the natural environment.

Other maps use modern mapping techniques for a specific purpose, for example to show trade routes and settlement patterns, or identify Indian language groups.

Copyright & Fair Use

For information on using copyrighted Virtual Jamestown materials and how to properly cite materials found on the site, click here.

Jamestown Envisionings

Jamestown Envisioning includes interpretive essays, recreated landscapes, patterns of exploration and settlement, visualizations of spatial and temporal history, rectified maps and charts, and the use of new technologies to analyze archival resources.