Many genealogical situations are easier to understand if you have a suitable map.  Here are some links that will help you find different kinds of maps you may need.  This list supplements the article “Finding Maps on the Internet” which you should read before using this list.

Don’t type these internet addresses.  Instead; download this list to your computer, open your copy with a word processor, and click the link you want to use.  Your computer will go to that site.

General Searches

The Perry-Castañeda Collection at

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ has thousands of maps, covering all parts of the world with wide-ranging times and themes.

http://www.culturalresources.com/Maps.html links to a huge variety of worldwide maps of all time periods.

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(U.S. and Individual States)

http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/colamer.html is a collection of North American maps from the colonial era.

Every time a state changed any of its county boundaries, a new map was created.  Complete sets for each state are at http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~george/countyformations/<formationmaps.html Type the name of the state (using all lower-case letters) in place of the < symbol.  There are no blanks before and after that symbol.

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(Any Country)

Old maps of any country are at

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Old_maps_of_< with the name of the country (using mixed-case letters) in place of the < symbol.  There are no blanks before and after that symbol.

Other old maps of any country are at

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Atlas_of_< with the < symbol used as above.

http://www.gracegalleries.com/ is a commercial site that offers free images of maps they sell.  Their collections cover many places, times, and subjects.  Read their tutorials.

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(British Isles)

First, find the place on a modern map. Go to http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/Gazetteer/

and type a place in the search box.  A map appears.  Zoom and pan as you wish.  The map cannot be downloaded, but you can grab the screen image.  How you do that depends on which computer and software you have.  After you know the exact location of your research task, you can look for an old map.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/grid/430500_581500_120  has zoomable and panable maps.  Right-clicking doesn’t work well; grab the screen image.

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/ has maps of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales from 1805 through 1958.  Look at all four tabs’ offerings, then click the map series that covers the area and time you want.  A map appears.  In its lower right corner is a small map that shows where you are in the British Isles.  Pan and zoom as you like.  Right-click an image to save it on your computer.

Go to http://www.genuki.org.uk/search/ and put “maps” without quotes in the search box.  This searches all GENUKI (Genealogy in the United Kingdom and Ireland) resources and shows many collections of maps.

http://maps.familysearch.org/ has parish, diocese, poor law union, and other kinds of maps for England only.  The print/save function is flawed, so grab the screen image.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_Catholic_dioceses_in_England_and_Wales

is an ecclesiastical site for England and Wales.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_Catholic_dioceses_in_Ireland is an ecclesiastical site for Ireland.

http://maps.nls.uk/scotland/thematic.html

is an ecclesiastical site for Scotland.  It also has many other kinds of maps.

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(Canada)

Canadian Geographic magazine’s site has maps and much more.  Explore at

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/mapping/historical_maps/

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canmaps/ is a map digitization project.

http://www.vintagemaps.com/Canada-p-1-c-296.html is another commercial site with free images.

http://canadaonline.about.com/od/historymaps/History_Maps_of_Canada.htm offers links to several collections of old maps.

http://www.anglican.ca/resources/gsarchives/incanada/#18

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(France)

http://www.french-at-a-touch.com/French_History/maps_of_france.htm has a large collection of French maps, from prehistoric times to recent years.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Old_maps_of_France has links to several

kinds of old French maps.

http://www.edmaps.com/html/france.html

has a collection of historical French maps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ancien_Régime_dioceses_of_France describes old dioceses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Roman_Catholic_dioceses_in_France  describes current dioceses.

http://www.themapdatabase.com/1789/08/ecclesiastical-map-of-france-1789-1802/

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(Germany)

http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/germaps.htm has several old German maps from 375 through 2005.  Right-click to save.

http://www.edmaps.com/html/germany.html has maps from 814 through World War II.

When you find an interesting image in http://www.oldmapsbooks.com/ContinentIndex/Europe/germany.htm click on the image to see close-ups of sections of that map.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/HRR_1789_EN.png shows the many Germanic states in 1789.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/WuerttembergPutzger1905.jpg

shows divisions of Wurttemberg in 1905.

http://thephora.net/forum/showthread.php?t=46131 ecclesiastical organization in 1500.

http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/western_europe_ecclesiastical.htm maps ecclesiastical organization in the Middle Ages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Mediatisation describes bishoprics and principalities.

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(Holland)

http://www.heardutchhere.net/NLMaps.html

has several maps and links to other kinds of information.

http://www.let.rug.nl/~maps/fokkevdmolen/index1.htm claims to have “an enormous number” of historic maps.

http://www.edmaps.com/html/netherlands.html has maps from 300 to 1919.

http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/netherlands_1568.htm shows the area in 1568.

http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/lowcountries/haxnederland.html has maps from the Middle Ages to current years.

http://watwaswaar.nl/ is an interactive detailed map displaying several subjects.

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(Italy)

http://vlib.iue.it/hist-italy/maps.html has a number of old Italian maps.

http://www.charmingitaly.com/old-map-of-ancient-italy/ has just a few maps.

http://mapsof.net/map/italy-1796-historical-maps shows one large map.  At the bottom of the page you can select others to enlarge.  Physical, political, population, and other maps.

http://www.mapandmaps.com/en/italy-antique-maps-prints/2153-kingdoms-italy-original-antique-map-karl-spruner-1846.html is a national map of 1846.

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(Mexico)

http://gomexico.about.com/od/planningandinformation/ig/Maps-of-Mexico/Historical-Map-of-Mexico.htm also includes a tutorial about Mexican geography.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Mexico explains how Mexican territory evolved, with illustrative maps.

http://www.worldgenweb.org/~mexchh/resources/maps.html has maps plus links to other kinds of genealogical resources in Mexico.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mexico_states_evolution.gif Select “Evolution of Mexican States” to see a video of states’ creation and boundary changes over time.  Grab each image separately.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_Catholic_dioceses_in_Mexico describes dioceses but doesn’t have maps.

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(Norway)

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/8/8c/Norway_County_Map.jpg shows new and old counties.

http://www.borgos.nndata.no/norge.htm describes counties and links to a map of each county with its subdivisions.

http://www.borgos.nndata.no/norge.htm has a composite map of all counties, showing farms’ locations.  Compiled from maps dated 1826-1916.

http://norwegianridge.com/2012/06/19/visit-your-norwegian-ancestors-farms-without-leaving-home/ provided drive-by views of Norwegian farms.

http://digitalarkivet.no/geistleg/eng/oversikt.htm  Click on any part of the map to enlarge.

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(Poland)

http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/maps/task4.html has national maps from the 1400s.

http://www.progenealogists.com/poland/

is an information site with links to maps.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~atpc/research/map-library.html has maps from 1004 to recent years.

http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/map.cfm?map_id=3752 around 1500.

Old or Ecclesiastical Maps

(Sweden)

http://www.progenealogists.com/sweden/places.htm describes political and ecclesiastical organization of the country, and links to a map site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Sweden has maps of counties and descriptions of old counties that no longer exist.

http://www.slu.se/en/library/search/digitalmaps/historical-maps/ the National Land Survey’s collection of historical maps.