HY469 One Unit
Maps, History and Power: The Spaces and Cultures of the Past
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Paul Stock
Availability
This course is available on the MA in Asian and International History (LSE and NUS), MA in Modern History, MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation, MSc in History of International Relations, MSc in International Affairs (LSE and Peking University), MSc in International and Asian History, MSc in International and World History (LSE & Columbia) and MSc in Theory and History of International Relations. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: Students should write a short statement supporting their application to take a course. The Teacher Responsible will assign places on the course and their decision is final.
Deadline for application: Please apply as soon as possible. Applications close at 5pm on 10th October 2025, however spaces are likely to fill before this time.
For queries contact: The teacher responsible for the course, as indicated on the course guide. Staff e-mail addresses are listed at https://www.lse.ac.uk/International-History/People.
Course content
How did past societies and cultures understand the world around them? How did those societies use maps to represent physical, social and imaginative spaces? Do maps merely reflect particular mentalities and social practices, or do they actively shape the experience and perception of the world? Maps, History and Power addresses these and other questions by exploring mapping practices and spatial thought in several European and non-European contexts from the medieval to the modern periods. The course explores how past societies have used maps to serve a number of practical and ideological purposes: to express religious belief, to aid navigation and commerce, to assert cultural superiority, and to enable state formation or imperial control. Alongside readings in history and cartography, the course will make extensive and innovative use of the latest digital resources, allowing students to view and discuss historical maps from the world’s great research libraries and collections.
Teaching
2 hours of seminars in the Spring Term.
20 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
20 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.
Formative assessment
Students will be required to submit two formative essays (one per term). They will also have the opportunity to sit a mock exam.
Indicative reading
- J. H. Andrews, Maps in Those Days: Cartographic Methods before 1850 (Dublin: Four Courts, 2009)
- Jordan Branch, The Cartographic State: Maps, Territory, and the Origins of Sovereignty (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014)
- Jerry Brotton, A History of the World in Twelve Maps (London: Allen Lane 2012)
- David Buisseret, The Mapmakers’ Quest: Depicting New Worlds in Renaissance Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003)
- Denis Cosgrove (ed.), Mappings (London: Reaktion, 1999)
- J.B. Harley, The New Nature of Maps: Essays in the History of Cartography (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001)
- Christian Jacob, The Sovereign Map: Theoretical Approaches in Cartography throughout History, trans. Tom Conley, ed. Edward H. Dahl (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2006)
- Mark Monmonier, How to Lie with Maps (Chicago: Chicago University Press, second ed. 1996)
- Denis Wood, The Power of Maps (London: Routledge, 1993)
Assessment
Exam (100%), duration: 180 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Key facts
Department: International History
Course Study Period: Autumn, Winter and Spring Term
Unit value: One unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 14
Average class size 2024/25: 14
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Leadership
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Specialist skills