1954 Monan Pictorial Historical Map of the Caribbean

An altogether engrossing 1954 pictorial / historical map of south Florida and the Caribbean by William Paul Monan. It romanticizes regional history, economy, and folklore, with a heavy emphasis on exoticizing piracy and shipwrecks.

A Closer Look

Covering an area from Palm Beach, Florida, southwards, with references made to the northern shores of Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela, this pictorial map centers on the Greater Antilles. Illustrations and text throughout refer to history, especially the history (sometimes mythologized) of piracy, reflecting considerable research. Sport fishing, oil refineries, and the Overseas Highway to Key West also make an appearance. Given the time period, Monan is surprisingly respectful in discussing Native American peoples and the African influence on Caribbean culture (such as Voodoo), and appropriately attentive to the centrality of slavery to the region's history.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn and published by William Paul Monan, a pilot for Pan Am, in 1954. It is one of a series of historical maps of locations in the Caribbean (Jamaica, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands) that he published in the 1950s and early 1960s, all of which are quite rare. The present map is only noted among the holdings of the Library of Congress and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and has no known history on the market.