CARTOGRAPHER TO SPEAK ON EVOLUTION
OF THE MAP OF FLORIDA
Florida, once thought to be an island, was at one time identified as a landmass covering half of North America. Noted cartographer Dr. Claude Alix will deliver a lecture on the evolution of the map of Florida through the ages at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum on Tuesday, June 1, 2004. The 7 p.m. presentation – which is free and open to the public - is part of the Museum’s Community of Visiting Scholars Lecture Series.
Dr. Alix, a Miami area resident, is considered one of the foremost authorities on maps from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries in a collection called “Where is my Florida?”
Between its discovery and accession to statehood, Florida evolved from a giant landmass to a peninsula. After the second Seminole War, it finally came to rest in a recognizable shape, of a reasonable size, and in an accepted location.
Dr. Alix attributes the beginning of a fascination with maps to a business trip to Singapore fifteen years ago. “Having a few hours to kill, I did what most tourists do there,” he said. “I went to a shopping mall. In a map shop – the first I had ever entered in my life – I stumbled upon an 18th century map. Its author bore the name of Allix. How could I resist. I was hooked.”
Museum galleries at 200 Greene Street will be open at 6 p.m. for lecture attendees. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation.
