This watercolor by Manuel María Paz (1820 1902) shows the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy (also called Sierra Nevada de Chita or Sierra Nevada de Güicán), as seen from the town of Moreno, Casanare Province (present-day Casanare Department), Colombia. At more than 5,000 meters, these peaks form the highest part of the Cordillera Orientale, the longest and widest of the three Andean mountain ranges. Paz was born in Almaguer in the province of Cauca. He joined the Colombian army at a young age and showed exceptional skills as a cartographer and painter. In 1853 he took over the role of draftsman of the Comisión Corográfica (Chorographic Commission) formerly held by Henry Price (1819 63). The commission, which began work in 1850, was tasked with studying the geography, cartography, natural resources, natural history, regional culture, and agriculture of the Republic of New Granada (present-day Colombia and Panama). Paz worked under the direction of Agustín Codazzi (1793 1859), an adven
This photograph is from a collection of 65 projectable lantern slides relating to the Arab Revolt of 1916-18, an important theater of operations during World War I. By supporting the revolt against Ottoman Rule, the British sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, which was aligned with Germany and Austria-Hungary. For their part, the Arabs hoped to secure independence and create a unified empire embracing the region from Aleppo, Syria to Aden, Yemen. The photographs depict many of the protagonists in this political and military struggle, including Colonel T.E. Lawrence of the British army and the British explorer and agent Harry Saint John Philby, as well as members of the house of Hashim Faisal bin Hussein and Abdullah bin Hussein, the key tribal leaders who led the revolt, and other prominent Arab leaders such as Dhari ibn Tawala of the Aslam Shammar and Sheikh Ibrahim of al-Zubayr. Other photographs depict unidentified Western agents and Arab tribal leaders. One of the women shown in t
Gerard Mercator's 1590 Sclavonia, Croatia, Bosnia cum Dalmatiae parte (Slavonia, Croatia, Bosnia, and a part of Dalmatia) is the best representation of Bosnia made up to that time. One of the oldest items in the cartographic collections of the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the map was published by the well-known Blaeu firm in Amsterdam. Shown are villages, towns, rivers, and mountains. The scale is in German miles. The map is in Latin, but it gives place names in the languages of the region, which include the Slavic languages and, in some places, German. Mercator (1512 94) was born in Rupelmonde in Flanders (Belgium). His given name was Gerard Kremer. "Mercator," meaning "merchant," is a Latinized version of his last name in Dutch. He studied philosophy and theology at the University of Leuven, and developed an interest in astronomy and mathematics. He produced his first map, of Palestine, in 1537. He went on to create numerous maps
In 1874-75, the Russian government sent a research and trading mission to China to seek out new overland routes to the Chinese market, report on prospects for increased commerce and locations for consulates and factories, and gather information about the Dungan Revolt then raging in parts of western China. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Iulian A. Sosnovskii of the army General Staff, the nine-man mission included a topographer, Captain Matusovskii; a scientific officer, Dr. Pavel Iakovlevich Piasetskii; Chinese and Russian interpreters; three non-commissioned Cossack soldiers; and the mission photographer, Adolf Erazmovich Boiarskii. The mission proceeded from Saint Petersburg to Shanghai via Ulan Bator (Mongolia), Beijing, and Tianjin, and then followed a route along the Yangtze River, along the Great Silk Road through the Hami oasis, to Lake Zaysan, back to Russia. Boiarskii took some 200 photographs, which constitute a unique resource for the study of China in this period. Most of the ph
This photograph is from a collection of 65 projectable lantern slides relating to the Arab Revolt of 1916-18, an important theater of operations during World War I. By supporting the revolt against Ottoman Rule, the British sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, which was aligned with Germany and Austria-Hungary. For their part, the Arabs hoped to secure independence and create a unified empire embracing the region from Aleppo, Syria to Aden, Yemen. The photographs depict many of the protagonists in this political and military struggle, including Colonel T.E. Lawrence of the British army and the British explorer and agent Harry Saint John Philby, as well as members of the house of Hashim Faisal bin Hussein and Abdullah bin Hussein, the key tribal leaders who led the revolt, and other prominent Arab leaders such as Dhari ibn Tawala of the Aslam Shammar and Sheikh Ibrahim of al-Zubayr. Other photographs depict unidentified Western agents and Arab tribal leaders. One of the women shown in t