Website Reviews

Websites 2010

This second edition of the JLAG websites section profiles locations that may prove helpful to scholars seeking resources for teaching and research. Descriptions of the profiled sites are drawn directly from the website home pages and from individual contributors. Subscribers to JLAG are encouraged to submit suggestions for inclusion in this section to the websites editor.

(1) http://geomaps.aum.edu/

During the first half of the twentieth century, the Carnegie Institution for Science, formerly the Carnegie Institution of Washington, conducted pioneering research throughout Mesoamerica. Carnegie maps and publications represent a significant body of knowledge about ancient people and places. These works continue to rank among the most commonly cited documents by scholars and researchers. Many of the remaining Carnegie publications are housed in rare book collections or private libraries. The Auburn University Carnegie Explorer website makes portions of the Carnegie research available to scholars from all disciplines and. In addition to digital copies of publications, Carnegie Institution paper maps of ancient settlements are provided in geo-referenced digital format for use in geographic information systems. The site provides remote sensing datasets covering all of Mesoamerica and portions of Central America as well.

(2) http://www.geosur.info/geosur/

The GeoSUR Portal provides an entry point to the spatial data and metadata published by participating institutions in South America and Panama. The spatial data may be consulted directly by means of a spatial map viewer contained in the Portal that connects to national and regional map services; or may be consulted through the metadata available in the portal, since each metadata record enables consultation of its associated datasets in the portal map viewer.

(3) http://www.southwestbooks.org/lgbibliog.htm

The bibliography provided through this link will be useful to scholars who study Spanish land grants in northern Mexico and the American southwest. A particular value of this bibliography is that many references are to journals that are not indexed electronically.

(4) http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics – IBGE – is the main provider of data and information in the country and it fulfills the demands of several different segments of civil society, as well of other governmental institutions at federal, state and municipal level. The site provides access to a rich array of geospatial resources.

(5) http://justf.org/

This website is a citizen effort to oversee and understand the United States' military relationship with the Western Hemisphere. It is a project of the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, in cooperation with the Center for International Policy and the Washington Office on Latin America. Links are provided to three main areas: data, analysis, and reports and other sources. A useful source for those seeking more information about military spending, training, and other regional security issues.

(6) http://www.mesoweb.com/

Mesoweb is devoted to the ancient cultures of Mexico and adjacent Central America, including the Olmec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Teotihuacan, Toltec, Aztec, and Maya (reserving the word Mayan for the language and the word Maya for the people and their culture). Because this is a huge area for any one website to cover, the webmasters have chosen to specialize in the Maya and, more particularly, Maya history, viewing it through the lens of archaeology and the related disciplines and the written records left by the Maya themselves. It highlights recent archaeological projects, provides a link to resources, and posts research articles and technical reports. For those interested, there are animation games, videos, and teaching tools available. John Harner uses the site in classroom teaching to show timelines for Prehispanic cultures and to use the excellent collection of images from the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

(7) http://eraofepidemics.squarespace.com/

This website presents information on the broad pattern of the health environment during the late Brazilian Empire and early First Republic (1849-1901) using geographic information system (GIS) tools, digital records derived from archival research, and database organizational techniques. The site has useful timelines, maps, a searchable database, and other useful tools.

(8) http://www.ciga.unam.mx/ciga/

El Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental (CIGA) es...