A Story To Tell: Seeing Through the Minds of Two Admirals

By considering the Reis map as an ancient heterotopia, this study will first consider this visual artifact as a piece representing geographical spaces on earth and analyze its formal elements. Following this, the  socio-cultural context of the map will be analyzed by considering how it has changed in time and what kind of an impact this change has on the meaning of the map.  After understanding the context of the map, the individual experiences which played a part in the production of the map will be examined to reveal how these experiences shaped the meaning of the map. As a result, the meaning of the cultural context and the meaning of the individual experiences implemented into this map will be connected to explore how the Reis map functions as a contact zone bridging different cultures, memories, histories, and experiences to tell the story of America’s discovery.