Maps of historic Vietnam/Indochina

[Howard C. Berkowitz]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I'm looking for a very plain and legally usable map(s) of Vietnam, or eastern SE Asia up to the Chinese border, that shows the major rivers, preferably mountain ranges, and either has drawn, or can accept drawings, of various colonial divisions (e.g., Annam, Cochinchina, and Tonkin), and, ideally, some of the even earlier Vietnamese and Chinese divisions. So far, I haven't found anything at the University of Texas map library.

Many years ago, the CIA map library tended to be very helpful on the phone. Are they still, or perhaps are they in NGA?

Howard

[Derek Harkness]

I think it's unrealistic to expect your perfect map to be available. You are going to have to do some photoshop editing. There are some good quality maps of Indochina such as http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/indochina_atlas/txu-oclc-1092889-78337-8-70.jpg  and  http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/indochina_rel85.jpg - You'll have to pull them into photoshop and clean off all the detail you don't need or maybe use them as a basis to trace your own blank map. It takes a bit of effort, but once you have a good quality blank map you can add to it to illustrate many articles.

[Robert_W_King]

You know, we really ought to have a CZ workgroup to handle these kinds of requests e.g. map requests, image adjustment, etc etc.

[Howard C. Berkowitz]

I think it's unrealistic to expect your perfect map to be available. You are going to have to do some photoshop editing. There are some good quality maps of Indochina such as http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/indochina_atlas/txu-oclc-1092889-78337-8-70.jpg  and  http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/indochina_rel85.jpg - You'll have to pull them into photoshop and clean off all the detail you don't need or maybe use them as a basis to trace your own blank map. It takes a bit of effort, but once you have a good quality blank map you can add to it to illustrate many articles.

Actually, you raise a good point. For many years, both when I worked in government and when I simply phoned in the D.C. area and asked nicely, the CIA Map Library was very nice at giving copies of what they termed "base maps," at various scales. The maps on the CIA World Factbook are in this category -- perhaps with major cities shown, or with no cities/political boundaries at all, or perhaps nothing political, but terrain/language/resources.  These were designed to be drawn upon.

I would have thought that the full set was in the University of Texas collection, but it doesn't seem to be; I have no idea if the CIA main library (Office of Central Reference) still has a map division, or if that's moved to NGA.  When the Pentagon was more accessible, there was a really great Army Map Library branch in the basement, with some self-service, but also very helpful librarians that would pull out CIA, DMA, National Geographic, oil company, and, probably if it was the right map, something issued by the Mogadishu Tourist Board.

[Derek Harkness]

The CIA map library still exists and it has online ordering features too https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/cia-maps-publications/index.html . For example, this map of south asia can be purchased for $9 or you can download the small jpg file https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/cia-maps-publications/maps/802749.jpg

A second online map resource from the CIA and attached to the world factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/refmaps.html contains this PDF file which could be used to make your own maps. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/reference_maps/pdf/southeast_asia.pdf as well as this jpg file https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/reference_maps/southeast_asia.html

[brucemtindall]

and, ideally, some of the even earlier Vietnamese and Chinese divisions.

The Harvard China GIS, http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/ , may have some of what you need. Obviously, it focuses mainly on China, but it does cover a lot of the changes in political subdivisions' boundaries/names/existence over time, and it may at least contain some parts of what's now Vietnam. I don't know anything about permission to use their maps; I just know the site exists and is apparently very extensive.