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Digitized features on the 1837 Ioway Map
From Whelan 2003 |
GIS and historical records suggest that the Ioways depicted features on their map for reasons other than geographical accuracy. For this reason the map provides a window into a native symbolic system. Distances in time as well as space, and possibly social distinctions, may be symbolized in the positioning and size of map features. Perhaps villages that were actually far from one another were drawn more closely spaced because of the close relationship of social groups in those villages, or perhaps because they represent settlements occupied at the same time. Time differences are also suggested by overlapping symbols, the younger event being displayed on top of the older. The line order and weight may have meaning. The size and number of enclosed dots marking villages may convey the relative size of settlements. Sources
Whelan, Mary Kathryn 2003 The 1837 Ioway Indian Map Project: Using Geographic Information Systems to Integrate History, Archaeology and Landscape. M.A. Thesis, University of Redlands, Redlands, CA.
William Green 2000 Description of the 1837 Ioway Map. In An Atlas of Early Maps of the American Midwest, Part II, edited by W. Raymond Wood, pp. 14-17. Scientific Papers, Illinois State Museum, Springfield. |
