Borders Drawn in Ink ebook

A line on paper could precede a road, a fort, a tax claim, or an invasion. Maps did not merely record expanding empires; they helped administrators imagine territory as measurable, divisible, and governable. This history examines surveying, boundary making, naming, and the selective representation of peoples and landscapes. It follows maps from field observations to offices where distant decisions acquired visual certainty. Attention to omissions and disputes reveals the limits of cartographic authority. Readers gain a critical yet historically grounded understanding of how maps supported colonization while also becoming evidence contested by local communities and rival powers.