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London and Online,
UK and OnlineA series of lectures on the history of maps and mapping worldwide, from earliest times to the twentieth century, with an emphasis on the social and cultural factors of the maps’ context, production, and use.
To attend online, register here.
Programme
6 November 2025 - Simon Morris (London Topographical Society): Mapping Local London — London Parish Maps to 1900
4 December 2025 - Noémi Ujházy (University of Nottingham): Mapping Soils in the Early 20th Century and the Material Politics of Internationalism
29 January 2026 - Elizabeth Chant (University of Warwick): Road Maps, Leisure Travel and Petro-modernity in 20th Century Argentina
26 February 2026 - Bob Headland (Scott Polar Research Institute): Cartographical Conundrums and Antarctic Sovereignty. Hakluyt Society Speaker
26 March 2026 - Mimi Cheng (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz): Aesthetics and Authority in 19th Century Maps of China
7 May 2026 - Anthony Terry (Independent Researcher): The Derrotero Ingles: Unravelling the Mysteries of an early 18th Century English Waggoner in Peru
Convenors: Catherine Delano-Smith (Institute of Historical Research) and Philip Jagessar (King’s College London).
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Online,
OnlineThe Oxford Seminars in Cartography are a long established part of Oxford’s academic life and are open to everyone with an interest in maps and mapping. The sessions are convened by Elizabeth Baigent, Reader in Oxford’s School of Geography, and Nick Millea, the Bodleian Library’s Map Curator.
Programme
27 November 2025 - Pragya Agarwal (University of Cambridge) - Mapping sense of place: Travels and Maps of May Morris
14 January 2026 - Charlotta Forss (Södertörn University) - TOSCA Field Trip – Mapping the North (in-person event)
12 February 2026 - Camille Serchuk (Southern Connecticut State University) in conversation with Elizabeth Baigent (University of Oxford) - Map Readings – ‘Lies of the Land: Painted maps in Late Medieval and Early Modern France’
12 March 2026 - Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann (École des hautes études en sciences sociales) - The unique large-format print of the General Map of the Qing Empire by Li Mingche (李明徹, 1751–1832) in Göttingen: tracing its cartographical origins and journey to a German university
4 June 2026 - Jean-Marc Besse (École des hautes études en sciences sociales) - Geography and Catholic censorship in Europe at the end of the sixteenth century
18 June 2026 - Nick Bolton (Ordnance Survey) - Ordnance Survey: Twenty-First Century National Mapping Agency
More information and registration can be found here.
Galveston, Texas,
USAOrganisation: Texas Map Society The Texas Map Society invites paper proposals for its Spring Meeting dedicated to the spatial history, science, and visualization of the Gulf of Mexico. We seek to bring together map collectors, historians of cartography, marine scientists, geographers, archivists, digital humanities scholars, and others to explore the Gulf as a contested and evolving space.
From early colonial maritime charts to high-resolution bathymetric modeling, the mapping of the Gulf of Mexico has been central to geopolitical strategy, economic extractions, and environmental preservation. With this conference we aim to examine how the Gulf of Mexico has been defined by the tools used to measure it and the narratives built upon its waters.
We welcome paper proposals on, but not limited to, the role of maps in Spanish, French, and British colonial claims, historical and modern methods of mapping the Gulf floor and the Continental Shelf, environmental humanities, Indigenous geographies and the recovering of non-Western spatial knowledge and coastal navigation traditions, borders and jurisdictions, and digital humanities projects particularly as they relate to the Texas coast and/or its islands.
Submission Requirements
We welcome proposals for individual 20 minutes papers or pre-constituted panels.
Individual Abstracts: 250–300 words.
Panel Proposals: A 150-word session description plus short abstracts for each presenter.
Short Biography: A 100-word biography, can include relevant publications or projects
Deadlines
Proposals Due: March 10
Acceptance Notification: March 15
Conference: 10-11 April
Please submit all materials in a single PDF directly to TMS VP Lydia Towns.
E-mail: Lydia.towns@sfasu.edu
St. Johns, Newfoundland,
CanadaOrganisation: The Society for the History of DiscoveriesThroughout history, islands have functioned as both isolated laboratories of evolution and central hubs of global maritime networks. From the earliest known navigations, to the European expansions in the "Age of Discovery", and contemporary deep-sea charting, the act of "discovering" an island is a complex event involving story-telling, encounters, scientific inquiry, and mapmaking.
This interdisciplinary conference seeks to examine the multifaceted history and ongoing process of island exploration. We invite scholars from history, geography, cartography, maritime studies, and related fields to submit proposals that interrogate how islands and island encounters relate to global exploration, exchange, and discovery.
The deadline for submissions is 15 March. The conference will take place from 29 July to 1 August 2026.
More information here.
Istanbul,
TurkeyOrganisation: Piri Reis UniversityOrganized on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the second recension (1526) of the Kitāb-ı Bahriye, this symposium aims to examine the life and works of Piri Reis within their historical context through a multilayered perspective. The symposium will address, through an interdisciplinary approach, topics such as the reflections of Mediterranean-centered maritime experience in the Kitāb-ı Bahriye, Ottoman cartography, the circulation of knowledge during the Age of Geographical Discoveries, maritime strategies in the Mediterranean, and global maritime activities in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean.
In this respect, the symposium seeks to explore the Ottoman maritime heritage within the framework of Piri Reis and the Kitāb-ı Bahriye, and to reassess the stages of development and transformation that maritime practices have undergone from the past to the present within an international academic setting.
Deadline for the call of paper is 20 March. The conference will be held from 18 to 21 November 2026. More information here.Brussels Map Circle event
Brussels,
BelgiumOrganisation: The Brussels Map Circle (BIMCC)
Annual General Meeting
10.00-12.00
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) opens only for Brussels Map Circle active members. All members are encouraged to become Active Member by applying to the President at least three weeks before the meeting .
A personal invitation to this AGM with the agenda and the possibility of proxy vote will be sent out to all Active Members by separate mail at least two weeks before the meeting.
Map Afternoon
14.00-17.00
The MAPAF will be organised in close cooperation with the Maps and Plans Department of the Royal Library of Belgium. Every participant is invited to bring along a map, object, book or anything else of cartographic interest from his own collection to be presented and discussed by the present fellow members. Always an excellent occasion to learn more in a convivial atmosphere. If you have the intention to show an item, please let it know to Henri Godts at henri@arenbergauctions.com
No entrance fee for Members.
Entrance fee for non-Members: EUR 5.00.
Fees are to be prepaid on our bank account before the MAPAF: IBAN BE52 0682 4754 2209 BIC: GKCCBEBB.
No cash payments during the event please.
Practical
Public transport: Central Station and metro station Central Station / Centraal Station / Gare Centrale.
Amsterdam,
NLOrganisation: Allard PiersonThe cartography collection of Allard Pierson offers a three months Research Fellowship in 2026 for research into the representation of princely cities by means of textual descriptions and visual representations in Blaeu’s atlas publications (dating from 1649 to 1672).
All information here.
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La Plata,
ArgentinaThis eleventh symposium aims to reflect on the cartographic operations involved in the design and projection of cities, territories and landscapes, as well as to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first symposium held. The validity of this academic space, which brings together specialists from different disciplines around the history of cartography, invites us to take a balance on the current state of this field of study, and to evaluate its projection in the Ibero-American world.Language: Spanish and Portuguese
Paris,
FranceOrganisation: History Commission of the French Cartography Committee and the National Library of FranceCartography is popular today for two reasons: it appeals to a wide audience, beyond its practical usefulness; and it is not just a matter for specialists. If by ‘popular culture’ we mean the productions disseminated by the cultural industries since the rise of the serialised novel, we can see that the link between cartography and popular culture has only grown stronger with the rise of visual media, television series and video games. Maps are often at the heart of transmedia storytelling, a strategy that deploys a universe or story across several complementary media and invites the audience to explore these different media for an enriched experience.
The History Commission of the French Cartography Committee and the National Library of France organise a one-day symposium on 10 April 2026 at François-Mitterrand. A call for paper is open until 10 November 2025. More information here.Venue: François-Mitterrand (BnF)
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USAOrganisation: The Society for the History of DiscoveriesThe Dr. Stephen F. Lintner Field Research Travel Award supports graduate students whose scholarship on the history of geographic discoveries requires direct engagement with the landscapes, environmental settings, and cultural contexts in which exploration occurred. The program reflects the value of field observation for understanding how explorers encountered terrain, interacted with local environments and communities, and interpreted unfamiliar regions. It is intended for graduate students whose research benefits from on-site investigation of routes, ecological features, landforms, cultural settings, or other place-based elements essential to reconstructing historical experiences of discovery.
Two awards of up to $1,500 each may be granted annually. Deadline for submission is 15 April 2026.
More information on the page of the Society for the History of Discoveries.
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Strasbourg,
FranceThe international Atlas meetings are aimed at collectors, enthusiasts and specialists in historical cartography. This year will focus on the Rhineland's heritage in the field of cartography. The meetings will focus on the historical facts and special features of the works studied and will reveal the world as it was observed in the past.
More information here.
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London,
UKThe largest Antique Map Fair in Europe, established 1980.
We exhibit at the historic London venue of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS).
This event brings together around 40 of the leading national and international antiquarian map dealers as well as hundreds of visiting dealers, collectors, curators and map aficionados from all parts of the world. A very large selection of Original Antique Maps will be available for sale, ranging in age from the 15th C. to the 20th C., covering all parts of the world and priced to suit all pockets.
More information here.Venue: Royal Geographical Society
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Online,
OnlineOrganisation: Mediterranean Studies Summer Skills SeminarThis Summer Skills seminar addresses the importance of maps in medieval and early modern society in terms of their production, function, display, and their contribution to a mapping mentality. Over four days we will study different types of maps from Islamic and Christian territories in relation to their form, content, use, and context. This course will not be addressing the geographic accuracy or scientific basis of cartographic works; rather they will be assessed as material, visual, and aesthetic products and as repositories of a newly formulated system of signs that promoted novel ways of seeing. We will work here to integrate maps more fully into art historical discourses while analyzing them as ideological objects.
More information on this page.Entry fee: $400-$1100
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St. Johns, Newfoundland,
CanadaOrganisation: The Society for the History of DiscoveriesThroughout history, islands have functioned as both isolated laboratories of evolution and central hubs of global maritime networks. From the earliest known navigations to the European expansions in the "Age of Discovery", and contemporary deep-sea charting, the act of "discovering" an island is a complex event involving story-telling, encounters, scientific inquiry, and mapmaking.
This interdisciplinary conference seeks to examine the multifaceted history and ongoing process of island exploration. We invite scholars from history, geography, cartography, maritime studies, and related fields to submit proposals that interrogate how islands and island encounters relate to global exploration, exchange, and discovery.
More information here.
Amsterdam,
The NetherlandsOrganisation: Librairie Loeb-LarocqueThe next Amsterdam Map Fair will take place on 12 September. Save the date!URL: https://www.map-fair.com/amsterdam
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Istanbul,
TurkeyOrganisation: Piri Reis UniversityThe life, works, and era of Piri Reis, one of the most important figures in Ottoman maritime history, are re-examined from a multifaceted perspective focusing on the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean.
More information here.Brussels Map Circle event
