The map is not the territory: Adventures in Southwestern cartography - : Readings Signings
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In the spring of 1778, Spanish cartographer Bernardo de Miera published a map of the Southwest that would guide the expeditions of the era’s leading explorers for 70 years. Known as the Plano Geográfico, Miera’s work mapped out the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin regions with unprecedented accuracy. It established the location of springs and mountain ranges and mapped the whereabouts of Indian tribes and Spanish settlements. The map was so influential that subsequent cartographers appropriated much of his work to make their own maps of North America, incorporating Miera’s successes and failures wholesale.