Secret Maps

From top secret D-Day documents, to hidden treasure maps, Secret Maps at the British Library will explore the relationship between mapping and secrecy, showing how maps from the 14th century to the present day were used to conceal knowlegde, control populations and create power. Visitors will see charts used by governments, armies, businesses, organisations, communities and individuals, and explore how these mysterious cartographies were used to disseminate, and hide, information, and sometimes purposefully decieve people. From a destroyed Ordnance Survey map from the General Strike of 1926, to landscapes that have been erased from official histories, Secret Maps will provide a new insight into the power of spatial information.