Centuries before Google Earth and Map Quest made it so easy to find our way around the world, cartography was a crucial instrument of European explorers who sought global conquest. The latest exhibition at the DePaul University Art Museum, 2350 N. Kenmore Ave., examines the intersection of map making, political power and science.

“Imperial Cartographies: Power, Strategy and Scientific Discovery” shows through March 18 and is free and open to the public.

The exhibition traces the ways cartography and other geospatial visualization and analytical technologies (Geographic Information Systems and satellite imagery) have shaped our perceptions of power and geopolitics, our planet and ourselves. It illustrates how tools of geography have supported imperial expansion from early voyages of exploration through European colonization to the Cold War and beyond.

The images and artifacts in the exhibition include Victor Levasseur’s “Afrique,” a reproduction of the Barlow mariner’s astrolabe of 1602 and Vincenzo Coronelli’s “Celestial and Terrestial” from 1697.

“While exhibitions of maps do not often find their way into art museums, cartography at its heart is the expression of ideas and information in an abstract, stylized visual form,” said Louise Lincoln, director of the museum.

“Imperial Cartographies” is co-sponsored by DePaul’s geography department.

On Feb. 3, Alex Papadopoulos, associate professor of geography and guest curator for the exhibition, along with Patrick McHaffie, chair of the university’s geography department, will give a tour of the exhibition at 1:30 p.m. Papadopoulos and members of the Chicago Geographical Society will give a tour on March 17 at 10:30 a.m.

DePaul Art Museum hours are: Mon. through Thurs., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Fri., 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Sat. and Sun., noon to 5 p.m. For information about the exhibition, call the DePaul Art Museum at 773/325-7506 or visit the Web site: museums.depaul.edu/artwebsite.