Historical maps in geography teaching

Abstract. Maps represent the different cartographic modes that are relevant to different historical, spatial and cultural processes. By using maps, we demonstrate how we see the world and its socio-spatial phenomena. In addition, maps are social constructions through values and judgments, and are part of the culture of those who made them, be they cartographers, military personnel, geographers, architects, archaeologists, teachers or even students. The map is powerful because it shows the world view. The article is the result of research into “the erasure of the black diaspora in the Liberdade district of São Paulo: fieldwork in geography teaching”, and is part of a narrative about the city of São Paulo that looks at the traces of the urban landscape to broaden the critical view of the production of space. The objective of this study is to present historical maps of the city for the concretization of spaces-times that have been hidden, and to use school cartography as an innovative language methodology to unveil the abstract.