country's geographic development from Columbus' arrival to the year 2000. He also concentrated on literary spaces and geography, stating, "Literature is a valuable storehouse of vivid depictions of the landscapes and lives of modern day society."

Thanks to a collaboration with his former doctoral student John Garver, some of Meinig's thematic regional maps named "" were published by the National Geographic Society in the 1980s, reaching more than 10 million National Geographic subscribers.