Drawing from a Native American skin map
Date
Credits
- Anonymous 5 Cartographer
- Raymond Wood Translator
Format
- Map 63
Type of Work
- Finished work 5482
Locations Made
- United States 756
- Illinois 125
This drawing is a transcription of a Native American map drawn on animal hide with charcoal. Rather than showing directions through measurements and physical proportions/relativity, many Native American maps considered symbols of the journey and elements which would only be evident to the mapmaker and the person(s) it was made for. These maps would show culturally significant facets (such as war routes, game trails, etc.) in the order the traveler would encounter them, but were not based around a grid system or universal unit of distance. Other maps were made for single use – drawn in the sand or in a 3-dimensional format with physical objects as symbols. When Lewis and Clarke encountered these maps, they dismissed their value because they were unlike their own ‘traditional’ European maps, despite their cultural significance.
