This is a bird's eye view map of the World's Columbian Exposition that took place in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in America. The conference where Frederick Jackson Turner gave his frontier thesis took place during the fair, which is relevant to American Studies since much of mainstream history has been written threw the sometimes constricting lens of the frontier, and it's the responsibility of the American Studies scholar to bring counternarratives into the spotlight. I find the World's Columbian Exposition interesting because the layout was very painstakingly thought out in order to present the best representation of Chicago and by extension America to the world. This map shows the results of the organizers' careful and laborious planning. Regardless of how accurate a representation the fair was of actual life in Chicago for people of all races and social classes, the organization of the Columbian Exposition shows how the planners ideally viewed their city.
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