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International Conferences on the History of Cartography
(ICHC)

Statement of Purpose

The International Conference on the History of Cartography [ICHC] is the only scholarly conference solely dedicated to advancing knowledge of the history of maps and mapmaking, regardless of geographical region, language, period or topic. The conference promotes free and unfettered global cooperation and collaboration among cartographic scholars from any academic discipline, curators, collectors, dealers and institutions through illustrated lectures, presentations, exhibitions, and a social programme. In order to expand awareness of issues and resources, each conference is sponsored by leading educational and cultural institutions. Conferences are held biennially and are administered by local organizers in conjunction with Imago Mundi Ltd.

About the Conferences

The continuing series of biennial conferences started in London in the 1960s. To date, the following conferences have been held, all but four of them in Europe:

1. London (1964)
2. London (1967)
3. Brussels (1969)
4. Edinburgh (1971)
5. Warsaw (1973)
6. Greenwich (1975)
7. Washington (1977)
8. Berlin (1979)
9. Pisa, Florence, Rome (1981)
10. Dublin (1983)
11. Ottawa (1985)
12. Paris (1987)
13. Amsterdam (1989)
14. Uppsala, Stockholm (1991)
15. Chicago (1993)
 16. Vienna (1995)
17. Lisbon (1997)
18. Athens (1999)
19. Madrid (2001)
20. Cambridge, Mass., Portland, Maine (2003)
21. Budapest (2005)
22. Bern (2007)
23. Copenhagen (2009)
24. Moscow (2011)
25. Helsinki (2013)
26. Antwerp (2015)
27. Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2017)
28. Amsterdam (2019)
29. Bucharest (2022) [delayed by Covid from 2021]
30. Lyon (2024)

Conference papers are generally (but not necessarily) first offered for publication to Imago Mundi.

Useful introductory resources are:

Future Venues

2026
The 31st conference will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, 7-11 July 2026.

Information about Proposing and Organizing an ICHC

[To read PDF files, you need Adobe Reader (version 5 or later); click here to download the latest version of the Reader for free.]

If you think you might be interested in hosting a future conference, please read the following document very carefully. It is intended to assist potential hosts to prepare a strong case:

A further document outlines the processes of organising a conference:

It is not essential that potential organisers read through all of the second document, but it does contain much useful material that may help decision making as the various planning stages are reached.

Past conferences

For background information see also the websites of past conferences, which may be accessible via the Internet Archive / Wayback Machine:

  • Lyon, France, 30th International Conference on the History of Cartography (1-5 July 2024), with the primary theme of "Confluences - Interdisciplinarity and New Challenges in the History of Cartography".

  • Bucharest, Romania, 29th International Conference on the History of Cartography (4-8 July 2022), with the primary theme of "Conflict & Cartography".
    See an album of photographs.

  • Amsterdam, Netherlands, 28th International Conference on the History of Cartography (14-19 July 2019), with the primary theme of "Old Maps, New Perspectives. Studying the History of Cartography in the 21st Century".
    For a useful summary, and a list of the papers and posters, see the relevant page on the general ICHC site, and see the Photo Gallery

  • Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 27th International Conference on the History of Cartography (9-14 July 2017), with the primary theme of "The cartographic challenge of the new".
    For a useful summary, and a list of the papers and posters, see the relevant page on the general ICHC site

  • Antwerp, Belgium, 26th International Conference on the History of Cartography (12-17 July 2015), with the primary theme of "Theatre of the World in Four Dimensions".
    [See Bert Johnson's illustrated Preview in the Winter 2014 issue (no.92) of the Washington Map Society's The Portolan. The FULL TEXT of the Programme & Abstracts volume is available online. For a useful summary see the relevant page on the general ICHC site and for a large collection of photographs see the official record.]

  • Helsinki, Finland, 25th International Conference on the History of Cartography (30 June - 5 July 2013), with the primary theme of "The Four Elements: the Essentials of the History of Cartography".
    [See Bert Johnson's illustrated Preview in the Winter 2012 issue (no.85) of the Washington Map Society's The Portolan, and his 'After Action Report' in The Portolan, 88 (Winter 2013).]

  • Moscow, Russia, 24th International Conference on the History of Cartography (10-15 July 2011), with the primary theme of "Multiculturalism in the History of Map Making".
          See the suite of photographs posted by the organizers. The list of Papers and Posters is available, in permanent form, on Peter van der Krogt's site.

  • Copenhagen, Denmark, 23rd International Conference on the History of Cartography (12-17 July 2009), with the primary theme of "Maps, Myths and Narratives: Cartography of the Far North". See the full text of the volume of Abstracts and CVs.
          The definitive list of Papers and Posters is available, in permanent form, on Peter van der Krogt's site, along with 124 of his photos.

  • Berne, Switzerland, 22nd International Conference on the History of Cartography (8-13 July 2007). For photographs, click on the relevant date on the calendar. The definitive list of Papers and Posters is available, in permanent form, on Peter van der Krogt's site. For a full report, with many photographs, see Cartographica Helvetica 36-2007, pp. 36-45.

  • Budapest, Hungary, 21st International Conference on the History of Cartography (17-22 July 2005). See the official Final Report of the conference organiser, Dr Zsolt Török (31 December 2005) and also a post-conference Record by Peter van der Krogt (follow the link to the photographs)

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