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.

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.

8 min read This story appears in the September 2013 issue of National Geographic magazine. The maps here show the world as it is now, with only one difference: All the ice on land has melted and ...