Historical Maps at the World Digital Library

The recently-opened World Digital Library is another great resource for historical maps (see here for another, and also see the recent post at VerySpatial).

The main page allows you to filter results by date range and region and then you can narrow your search with a number of options, one of them being "maps". The maps can be viewed in flash, with zoom control, and it is also possible to download a TIF image.

The map below is a 1507 world map that was first to depict the Western hemisphere with the Pacific Ocean as a distinct ocean (click on the image below to see the details). Check out the site if you're interested - looks like they have over 300 maps already online. Details about the project are available here, and it an associated Slashdot discussion here.