Join University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist adjunct research associate and former Iowa State Archaeologist, William Green, for a book discussion and meet the author event for his new title, This is the Route of My Forefathers: The 1837 Ioway Map. his event is organized by Chicago Map Society, and it will be held in person in at the Newberry Library in Chicago and on Zoom. Register for the Zoom webinar at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bbvOInEoQ_-NdeOf4BuQEw#/registration

Abstract: In 1837, during the height of the Indian Removal era, leaders of the Ioway nation made a map to support their territorial claim to most of the future state of Iowa. The Ioway map depicts 54 rivers, nine lakes, and 23 settlements and the routes connecting them.

Oral traditions, documentary records, and archaeological evidence demonstrate that the 1837 map illustrates more than 200 years of Ioway settlement history throughout much of the Midwest. An Ioway map made ten years later omits some of those settlements but adds many that are missing from the 1837 map. This presentation explores Ioway history as shown by those maps and considers broader questions about Indigenous North American mapping. It addresses some of the topics covered in the presenter’s recent book, This Is the Route of My Forefathers: The 1837 Ioway Map.