A History of Britain in 100 Maps

In A History of Britain in 100 Maps Jeremy Black takes readers deep into the unparalleled collections of the British Library Map Room to tell a new story of the British Isles through acknowledged treasures and previously undiscovered and unpublished items.

Presenting in detail 100 important maps Black explores major themes in British history, from settlement, environmental change, state formation and ecclesiastical development to industrialisation, urbanisation, and modern socio-political developments. In doing so he also tells the story of how a rich mapmaking tradition developed from the medieval Mappa Mundi to the work of pioneering cartographers including Matthew Paris, John Speed and Christopher Saxton and on through institutions such as the Ordnance Survey and the A-Z Company. Cartographic records of the Civil War and Great Fire, or curiosities including Emil Reich’s ‘Map of British Genius’, are contrasted with infographic maps of recent elections and the COVID-19 epidemic. The book also considers the growing field of fine and digital artists using delineated images of Britain as their subject matter.