Gilbert H. Grosvenor, National Geographic magazine’s founding editor, is credited with saying: A map is the greatest of all epic poems. Its lines and colors show the realization of great dreams.

This story appears in the July 2019 issue of National Geographic magazine ... missions to create the February 1969 hand-­painted map—considered the best reference at the time.

Once this photolettering process was refined, it was applied to our United States map supplement in the May 1933 National Geographic. Shortly thereafter, Society cartographer Charles E.

Imagine unfolding a map that doesn’t just show you where to go—but why it matters. This map is stitched together not by algorithms or travel influencers, but by the people who live, breathe, and love ...