From the late 1500s until the late 1600s, the defiantly Protestant Dutch, centered in Amsterdam, led the world in cartographic innovation, artistry, and publishing. Looking at the maps and careers of several Dutch masters, William C. Wooldridge discusses how it happened that the greatest map makers all adhered to the reformed faith.    

Retired Vice President for Norfolk Southern, Bill Wooldridge brought together one of the finest collections of early Virginia-related maps ever assembled (the Wooldridge Collection was recently acquired by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation). His book Mapping Virginia: From the Age of Exploration to the Civil War has received wide acclaim. A native of Lynchburg, Virginia, Wooldridge graduated from Harvard College and earned his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. He has served as president of the Norfolk Historical Society and of the John Marshall Foundation, on the boards of WHRO and the Library of Virginia Foundation, and is currently a trustee of the Virginia Historical Society. 

The program is one of a four-part series "Reformation from the Backside," sponsored by the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan University. For more about the series, go to:

http://www.vwu.edu/center-for-the-study-of-religious-freedom/initiative-streams.php#headingTwo