Ben Franklin's World is a production of the

O'Mohandro Institute and the sponsor for this episode is the Georgian Papers

Program.

Welcome to Ben Franklin's World,

podcast about Early American History with Liz Covert.

The study of history is key to understanding who we are and how we can affect the better future.

Ben Franklin's world will introduce you to historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present day world.

And now, here's your host, Liz Koval.

Hello and welcome to episode 177 of Ben Franklin's world.

The podcast dedicated to helping you,

learn more about how the people and events of our early American past

have shaped the present day world we live in.

Did you know that maps have social lives?

I admit, it's kind of weird to think about an inanimate object as having a social life,

and yet maps do indeed have social lives.

Maps actually facilitate a lot of different social and political relationships between people and nations.

And they did a lot of this work for Americans throughout the early American past.

Martin Brookner, a professor of English at the University of Delaware,

joins us to discuss early American maps and early American mapmaking

with details from his book The Social Life of Maps in America. and

as we explore maps in America, and as we explore maps and mapmaking in early America,

Martin reveals,

...