European New World View

When viewing the North American continent on maps, we often become used to looking at it in a certain way. This way usually includes North America centered on the map, with north facing the map top. State and national borders are also usually included and aid us in thinking about the region spatially. However, North America takes on a very different view when we simply change the perspective we are viewing it from.

This image from Google Earth shows North America from a Western European perspective, how the New World may have appeared in the minds of European explorers in centuries past. From an English viewpoint, the Canadian Provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland lie directly to the west, while the United States sits further south. The northerly regions of the lower 48, brought into perspective by the Great Lakes, are seen to sit off to the southwest of England. I, from a midwestern United States standpoint, am not used to thinking of the Great Lakes as lying south of anything. However, the Great Lakes are not any further north than the greater part of Europe, which sits largely north fo the 48th parallel. I wonder if old maps could indicate how the spatial perspective of early European explorers and settlers differed from ours today? It is interesting to note that even home isn't very recognizable when one's vantage point is changed.

-Daniel Uden 4/5/2009