Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of Exploration and Discovery: British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Yukon

I bought 3 books along the same topic as a gift for my husband. This was his preferred one.

Starting with pre-exploration theoretical maps through the Canadian Northern Railway's 1914 route map, this book gives a sampling of major mapping efforts in the Pacific Northwest (Alaska to Oregon). Maps of course reflect their makers, and this book reflects the range of interests over four centuries of Pacific Northwest explorations, in the two major waves of European marine explorers and settlers. The maps are reprints of originals, not made-for-the-book digests that I find so annoying. Each of the 320 maps is accompanied with a brief description of the map's provenance and the circumstances that make it important today. The book's format is large enough to peruse fine details, and there are some delightful accompanying illustrations in this beautiful book.

The "Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest . . ." is an excellent read for anyone living in the Pacific Northwest from Coos Bay/North Bend to Nome, even if you aren't into maps. As someone who relocated here from the Midwest five years ago, this book has helped put the webbing between my toes. The map research is impressive. Derek Hayes has reproduced maps in this book that I never would have known existed. The narative history is good reading as well (I detect the influence of Ken Burns here). The book has greatly increase my knowlege of the place I have chosen to live, both in terms of its history and the physical landscape. I also recommend it to any history or geography buff, even if you mispronounce Oregon "Or E Gone!"

Ok, so I love maps and I live in the area, but this is still a rightly highly-acclaimed wonderful piece of work! Map fans will love it; locals will love it; others will learn (many) things from it. As well as the maps themselves, you also get a sweeping series of historical vignettes associated with each map. The least you'll get from it is the sheer joy of looking at a fantastic collection of wonderful old maps!