William Robert Shepherd
William Robert Shepherd (June 12, 1871 – June 7, 1934) was an American cartographer and historian specializing in American and Latin American history.
Also recorded as William R. Shepherd · William Shepherd
William Robert Shepherd

Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
- Name
- William Robert Shepherd
- Born
- 12 June 1871
- Birthplace
- Charleston, South Carolina, United States
- Died
- 7 June 1934
- Place of death
- Berlin, Germany
- Education
- Columbia University (PhD)
- Occupation
- Cartographer, historian
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- cartography · history of Latin America · history of the Americas
- Honours
- honorary doctor of the University of Madrid Complutense
- Languages
- English
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William Robert Shepherd (June 12, 1871 – June 7, 1934) was an American cartographer and historian specializing in American and Latin American history.
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wikidata · Q8017647 · wikipedia · William Robert Shepherd
In this article
Biography
Biography
William Robert Shepherd studied at Columbia University. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is cartography, history of Latin America and history of the Americas. Places of work recorded in the authority are New York City. Employment is recorded with Columbia University. Distinctions recorded are honorary doctor of the University of Madrid Complutense.

William Robert Shepherd, Elis
Wikimedia Commons

The Duchy of Lorraine, circa 1000
OwenBlacker · Cropped from Europe and the Byzantine Empire about 1000, from The Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1911, courtesy of the Perry-Castañeda Library map collection
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — William Robert Shepherd • Born — 12 June 1871 • Birthplace — Charleston, South Carolina, United States • Died — 7 June 1934 • Place of death — Berlin, Germany • Education — Columbia University (PhD) • Occupation — Cartographer, historian
Biography
Biography
William Robert Shepherd was born in Charleston, South Carolina on June 12, 1871. In 1896, he completed his PhD at Columbia University. He then studied in Berlin and finally became professor of history at Columbia. He is best known for his Historical Atlas, published in several editions during the early twentieth century. He is considered a pioneer in the field of Latin American history. Shepherd's address to the 1909 meeting of the American Historical Association was "probably the first time that a part of the program of the annual meeting was devoted to the history of other peoples in the Americas." In his remarks, he decried that in the United States the history of the Western Hemisphere focuses on the English colonies and ignores or disparages the history of Spanish, Portuguese, and French America. He called for a more balanced history of the Americas, stressing "That the history of the Spanish, Portuguese, and the French in America possesses an interest and a significance of its own, entirely apart from its relation to the 'Anglo-American' element." He died while on a lecture tour in Berlin on June 7, 1934.
Selected works
Selected works
• Illustration — The Battle of Harlem Heights (1898) • Guide to the Materials for the History of the United States in Spanish Archives. Washington, D.C., Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1907. • Distribution of Races in Austria-Hungary. 1911 • Historical Atlas. New York City, Henry Holt and Company, 1911. • Latin America. New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1914. • The Story of New Amsterdam. New York, The Holland Society of New York, 1917. • The Hispanic Nations of the New World: Our Southern Neighbors. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1919. • Hispanic Nations of the New World; a chronicle of our southern neighbors. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1921. * • Historical Atlas. New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1926.
Identity
Identity
William Robert Shepherd is recorded as historian, cartographer and hispanist.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1871
William Robert Shepherd was born on 12 June 1871.
1934
William Robert Shepherd died on 7 June 1934.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Charleston.
Birth place
Berlin.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q8017647: William Robert Shepherd
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “William Robert Shepherd”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Literature
Scholarly footprint
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References
Citations
References
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authority record
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
William Robert Shepherd worked in cartography, history of Latin America and history of the Americas. He was employed by Columbia University. He worked at New York City.
Career and activity
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Maps and atlases
1,180 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- William Lewis HerndonAuthor
- William MorganAuthor
- William MudgeAuthor
- William Rich HuttonAuthor
- William RoyAuthor
- William SchmollingerAuthor
- William ScullAuthor
- William SooneAuthor
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