Antique Maps of the Pacific Ocean

Western mapping of the Pacific Ocean began in the mid-16th century, but it took over 200 years before western exploration had discovered and mapped the major islands. This web site presents a variety of images of antique maps printed prior to 1800, showing the changes brought about by this exploration.

The site is divided into three main sections:

• Pacific Ocean - maps showing the Pacific ocean in its entirety
  
• Pacific Ocean Islands - maps of individual islands and island groups
  
• California as an Island - maps and details showing the long-term myth that California was an island

Some additional pages provide other information of note:

• Antique Map Web Site - general (non-dealer) web sites focusing on antique maps
• Antique Map Dealers - links to antique map dealers, particularly those with Pacific Ocean maps
  • note: we have no relationship with any of these dealers; we do not endorse any particular dealer
• Place Names - a web page discussing naming on antique maps

Two excellent books are available that focus on the early mapping and charting of the Pacific Ocean:

About 10 years ago, this site received an award from Lightspan's "Study Web" web site, which at the time was publicly available. Since then this site became part of "The Lightspan Network" (available only through school subscriptions), and even later got absorbed into "Plato Learning", whose web site has even less information. But whether or not there's still a link available to our site, here's the award we got: