Ye olde maps, converted to coloring pages.
Coloring has become an incredibly popular hobby for adults looking for an enjoyable and calming activity. Coloring can help adults shut off stress and anxiety by engaging the mind in a mediative activity.
If your favorite coloring subject is maps, here are some historic maps you can print out and color. If you’re looking for contemporary outline maps that you can color covering the United States, different continents, and the World, visit this coloring maps page.
Bird’s Eye View of Paris, 1550
This hand-painted map of Paris was created by German cartographer, Sebastian Münster. The bird’s eye view is titled “Lutetia Parisiorum urbs, toto orbe celeberrima notissimaque, caput regni Franciae.”
Roma Vetvs, 1627
This 1627 map published by Dutch printer Abraham Elzevier shows the ancient city of Roma around 300 BCE and highlights such landmarks as the the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, and the Circus of Nero.
Europa regina, 1544
German cartographer, Sebastian Münster published this depiction of Europe as a queen as part of his volume, Cosmographia, the earliest German language description of the world. The depiction of Europe as a queen was a common cartographic choice during the Renaissance and this map portrays the dominance of the Holy Roman Empire under Charles V and the political influence of the Habsburgs, thus France, Spain, and Bohemia all have prominent places in the map.
Spice Islands, 1750
This dual map of the Spice Islands off the coast of Indonesia by Jacques Nicolas Bellin (1703–1772) was created around 1750. It shows Machian in the upper panel, a volcanic island that experienced a devastating eruption in 1646, which Bellin indicates with the blank space in the middle. The lower map is of Bacan and shows the Dutch Fort Barneveld.
Carta Marina, 1572
The Carta Marina (long form: Carta marina et descriptio septentrionalium terrarium which is Latin for “Marine map and description of the Northern lands”) is the earliest known map of Nordic countries created by Swede Olaus Magnus in 1539. Originally created in black and white, a later version from 1572 is a colorful view of the region, complete with sea monsters.
The Carta Marina is a large map with a lot of intricate detail so this coloring PDF is best downloaded if you have access to a plotter so you can print it as a large sized map.
