"The almost simultaneous European discovery of the New World and the rise of the art of printing has made maps among the most faithful records of the exploration and settlement of the Americas. Printed maps proved indispensible to the empire-building of the great European powers, and today these same maps offer an incomparable panorama of what was known about Texas and the Southwest between 1513 and 1900. The publication of this long out-of-print classic, with a new introduction by the authors, makes this significant study with its colorful and striking maps available once again." "The fifty maps collected for this volume represent many of the most historically significant maps of Texas and the Southwest from 1513 to 1900. The introductory text and the detailed descriptions of each map provide the reader with a keen appreciation of the progress of exploration, the science of cartography, and the art of printing."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved