This book comprises 17 chapters derived from new research papers presented at the 7th International Symposium of the ICA Commission on the History of Cartography, held in Oxford from 13 to 15 September 2018 and jointly organized by the ICA Commission on Topographic Mapping and the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. The overall conference theme was ‘Mapping Empires: Colonial Cartographies of Land and Sea’. The book presents a breadth of original research undertaken by internationally recognized authors in the field of historical cartography and offers a significant contribution to the development of this growing field and to many interdisciplinary aspects of geography, history and the geographic information sciences. It is intended for researchers, teachers, postgraduate students, map librarians and archivists.

Alexander James Kent is Reader in Cartography and Geographic Information Science at Canterbury Christ Church University (UK), where he lectures on cartographic history and design, GIS, remote sensing and on European and political geography. His research explores the relationship between maps and society, particularly the intercultural aspects of topographic mapping and the aesthetics of cartography. Alex is also the Editor of The Cartographic Journal, the Immediate Past President of the British Cartographic Society, the Chair of the ICA Commission on Topographic Mapping, and the Chair of the ICA World Cartographic Forum.

Soetkin Vervust is a postdoctoral research fellow at the VUB – Free University of Brussels (Belgium) and Newcastle University (UK). Her research interests lie in eighteenth and nineteenth century military cartography, the use of digital techniques for the study of old maps, and their applicability to historical geography and landscape archaeology. She has served as Executive Secretary of the ICA Commission on the History of Cartography since 2015.

Imre Josef Demhardt is interested in post-enlightenment cartography, colonialism and regional studies, with a focus on Central Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and North America. In addition to having published numerous articles and several books on these subjects, he is involved as co-editor of Vol. 5 (Nineteenth Century) in the encyclopedic project on the History of Cartography. He holds the Garrett Chair in the History of Cartography at the University of Texas at Arlington and currently serves as Chair of the ICA Commission on the History of Cartography.

Nick Millea has been Map Librarian at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, since 1992. He served as Bibliographer for Imago Mundi (2005–10 and 2012–15) and is a founding member and co-convenor of The Oxford Seminars in Cartography (TOSCA). Most recently, he has co-curated the Talking Maps exhibit at the Bodleian Library and has written the exhibit’s complementary books: Talking Maps and Fifty Maps and the Stories They Tell.