Lines Drawn by Women: Mapping Worlds Before Modern Cartography

Before maps became standardized scientific objects, women contributed geographic knowledge through travel, patronage, manuscript work, teaching, collecting, and visual practice. Their roles were often dispersed across archives that credited institutions or male collaborators. This history traces the evidence carefully, placing women within the workshops, courts, households, and networks where early maps were made and used. It reveals cartography as a social practice rather than a record of solitary genius.