Maps of the New World had been produced since the 16th century. The history of cartography of the United States begins in the 18th century, after the declared independence of the Thirteen original colonies on July 4, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Later, Samuel Augustus Mitchell published a map of the US in 1867. The National Program for Topographic Mapping was initiated in 1884 by the United States Geological Survey.
As the United States changed territorial lines, maps were updated and redrawn, e.g. when the new state Hawaii was added on August 21, 1959.
Some maps show the state lines (boundaries) of the individual states, whereas other maps simply show the national boundaries between the United States and other nations.