How were maps of Africa and Asia produced in 19th-century Europe? What knowledge contributed to their development? Which factors affected their design and structure? How did concepts of globality and territoriality inform map designs? – and what role did colonial imaginaries and fictions play in the process? Was a ‘European’ or even ‘German’ gaze inscribed into map designs? This blog tackles these questions and more by presenting extraordinary finds and findings of the project “Kartographien Afrikas und Asiens (1800-1945): Ein Digitalisierungsprojekt zur Sammlung Perthes Gotha.” Situated at the University of Erfurt and administered by the Forschungskolleg Transkulturelle Studien/Sammlung Perthes and Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, we are concerned with the digitization of historic African and Asian maps included in the Perthes collection, ranging from 1800 to 1945. The project is featured in the e-heritage funding program of the BMBF for two years.