Cartography of the United States



The cartography of the United States is the history of surveying and creation of maps of the United States. Maps of the New World had been produced since the 16th century. The history of cartography of the United States begins in the 18th century, after the declared independence of the original Thirteen Colonies on July 4, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War (1776–1783). Later, Samuel Augustus Mitchell published a map of the United States in 1850. The National Program for Topographic Mapping was initiated in 1884 by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).