Same place, very different map

Native Land map clip New York

The history of Albany as a city stretches back 400 years. But the history of this land -- and people living here -- is, of course, much longer than that. When the Europeans showed up this place was already inhabited by the Mahican people (or Mohican).

With that history in mind, have a look at this interesting map site called Native Land that charts the lands of indigenous people here in the northeastern US, the Americas more widely, as well as other places around the world. It highlights one aspect of the rich and diverse and complicated history of this place prior to the 17th century. That clip above shows this area.

The map is the creation of a Canadian programmer named Victor Temprano. Atlas Obscura recently talked with him about how the map came about, along with the ongoing work to build it and make it more accurate.

By the way: If you're curious about the pre-Columbus history of this hemisphere, the Charles C. Mann book 1491 is an interesting place to find more of it.

Earlier: The Cornplanter pipe tomahawk

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