by G. Malcolm Lewis

Mr Lewis, of the geography department at Sheffield University, is at present researching the cartography of pre-literate cultures including the North American Indians. Here, he gives us an insight into his findings - some of which may surprise you like the fact that many North American Indians could draw maps at the time of their first contact with white people. As Mr Lewis points out, given the significance of Indian maps and mapping activities it is surprising that scholars in the past have devoted so little attention to it.

SOME, IF NOT ALL of the Indians of North America could draw maps at the time of their first contact with white people and many still do so. From the mid-sixteenth century until very recent times whites throughout North America collected from Indians geographically arranged information about unknown or inadequately known areas.


This meant that a map of the rivers and lakes of northwestern Manitoba given by a Chipewyan Indian in 1940 to the amateur explorer Prentice G. Downes, engaged in filling in a detail of the geography of that area, was probably similar in essence and had much the same significance for Downes as a map of the lower Colorado River some 400 years before, which had been drawn by a native at the request of Fernando Alarchon, the first European ever attempting to ascend it. [1] There are several hundred records of similar gifts and solicitations of maps but because of their ephemeral nature or geographically remote origins the originals have rarely survived. For the pre-nineteenth century period even contemporary transcripts are rare and are seldom acknowledged or readily recognisable on either explorers' or printed maps.

The frequent use in early reports (and rather less frequently on maps) of the ambiguous word 'relation' in acknowledging information derived from natives rarely indicated whether the geographically arranged information had been 'related' by word of mouth, by gesture, in drawings (of which maps were merely special cases) or by means of a combination of these. For example, the manuscript map of the east coast of North America sent by Don Alonso de Velasco, the Spanish ambassador in London, to Philip III in 1611 was compiled from a number of sources and differentiated in blue those features which had been 'done by the relations of the Indians. [2] However, the straightness of the rivers and the indication of a false coastline just beyond the sources of the west bank tributaries of Chesapeake Bay and of two enormous lakes in northern New England could reflect either misinterpretation of non graphical information or false incorporation of information received from Indians in cartographic form. The absence of chirography (handwriting) in any of the more than 500 native languages, the universal difficulty of conveying geographical relationships by means of language alone and the existence of well developed pictographic traditions throughout the continent suggest that many of the relations received from the natives probably included a map or map-like component.

The early printed accounts incorporating information received in Indian relations were rarely accompanied by maps. William Hole's 'Virginia' in John Smith's A map of Virginia ... is a notable exception.[3] Twenty-four Maltese crosses, mainly located on rivers draining into Chesapeake Bay, indicate the inland limit of the area which, according to the key, had 'bin discovered'. Beyond the crosses the delineations were based on the 'information of the Savages, and ... set downe, according to their instructions.[4] In 1607, when only eighteen miles upstream from Jamestown, Smith had met an Indian who had at first offered to describe the James River 'with his foote' (presumably in sand or silt) and who eventually drew with pen on paper 'the whole River from Chesseian (Chesapeake) bay to the end of it so far as passadg was for boates: .. .[5] In the following year Powhatan, the overlord of tidewater Virginia, 'drew plots upon the ground' in the course of telling Smith about the tribes to the north and west and the supposed sea beyond the mountains of the interior [6] These incidents occurred only eight days and sixteen months respectively after the English had settled at Jamestown. Quite clearly, here, as elsewhere in North America, some if not all of the natives could draw maps at the time of their first contact with whites.

Prehistoric evidence of mapping in North America is controvertible, Until recently there was a tendency to categorize as maps the non-pictorial, non-geometrical and otherwise inexplicable networks which occur on rock carvings (petroglyphs) in many parts of the continent. Whilst most of these are non cartographic and others are not prehistoric a minority may be both. A basalt rock by the Snake River in Idaho preserves a much weathered but deeply carved network, which appears to be the course of the river and its major tributaries for perhaps one thousand miles below its source, together with adjacent mountain ranges represented by means of circles[7] A systematic investigation of this and other examples of supposedly cartographic petroglyphs is long overdue but they are widely dispersed, difficult to date and often remote or difficult to reach. Furthermore, as evidenced by native maps of the early historic period, Indian representations of actual networks (whether drainage, routes or boundaries) were not drawn to scale and were characterised by gross distortions of direction i.e. they had more in common with a plan of the London Underground than with an Ordnance Survey map. Relating their representations to actual networks in the absence of supporting evidence is therefore dubious practice and prehistoric petroglyphs are not accompanied by such evidence.

There is no doubt that before they were exposed to examples of European cartography the native peoples of north America made maps. After contact they continued to do so for any of four indigenous purposes: to express cosmological ideas; to record migrations, battles and other events; to brief war parties; and to leave as directions for others. John Smith described how in 1607 Powhatan Indians of Virginia used meal and corn to construct three concentric circles about a fire to represent their country, the coastline and the edge of the supposedly circular world and how they placed a pile of sticks between the coastline and the edge of the world to depict the country from which he had come (Fig. 1) [8]


In 1762 a Delaware Indian preacher used as a visual aid a map drawn on deer skin, of which he made copies for trade, thus making him one of North America's earliest native commercial cartographers (Fig. 2). [9] It consisted of two concentric squares, the outer of which enclosed the land and the inner the habitat of Indians in their after life. The area between the two squares was further divided into the habitat of the Indians in this life and their former habitat, which had been lost to the whites. Opposite corners of the inner square represented a former avenue to after life, access to which had been closed by the whites, and a newly opened but dangerous alternative. Less cosmological and less abstract than either of these are certain of the birch bark scrolls of the Southern Ojibway of Minnesota whose religion, the Mide, they believe came to them when they lived on or near the Atlantic coast. Some of their scrolls record the migration of their religion. [10] All of these are vague towards the right (east) in their representation of the area of origin and early migration but towards the left (west), where they depict the later and more clearly recollected migrations, topographic detail becomes increasingly recognizable, especially for the area between the head of Lake Superior and Leech Lake, Minnesota (Figs. 3a and b).

Wisconsin, and the middle Missouri valley (Figs. 4a and b). There is no key but the journal of the council proceedings makes, it quite clear that the route depicted the migration of the Chiefs forefathers and that the settlements are some of the sites occupied en route, of which the Chief admitted that he could not tell the total. Smaller in area but more detailed in topography are five maps of north central ewfoundland made in 1829 by the last Boethuck Indian. They show various journeys and events of between six and nineteen years before, in the course of which most members of the tribe were killed, captured or died. [12] In addition to depicting routes and recording events, these maps show in remarkable and readily interpretable detail the rivers, lakes, islands and coasts of a physically complex area between the head of Notre Dame Bay and Red Indian Lake. Drawn on paper, they show the Indians and everything pertaining to them in red (the Boethucks were known by the early explorers as the red men because of their use of red ochre). whereas the white men and topographical features were drawn in black. (Figs. 5a and b).


Perhaps because of the secretiveness of the occasions there are relatively few records of maps drawn for military purposes. Early in the nineteenth century the Comanche Indians used maps drawn on the ground with a finger or stick to instruct war parties about to make forays into strange territory. These maps, made by the older men surrounded by a circle of young braves, were constructed in increments of one-day journeys, the braves being expected to memorize the details of one day's route before the next was revealed to them. In addition to the larger rivers and streams they showed the hills, valleys, ravines, hidden water holes and unusual or striking features. One such map was produced prior to a party of teenage braves making a more than 1500 mile return foray from Brady Creek in central Texas to Monterrey, Mexico.[13] In the 1860s two tribes ofNootka Indians on the west coast of Vancouver Island prepared to attack the village of a third tribe on an island some eighty miles to the north. They adjourned to a smooth sandy beach, where the husband of a woman from the third tribe outlined in the sand the island, its coves, beaches and tracks and the village with its divisions and houses. [14] The houses of important men were represented by piles of sand and from time to time others who knew the area were consulted on points of detail. The map was then used to brief the whole of the war party as to the number of men in each division of the village, their arms and supposed ammunition, and the personal characteristics of the important men whose houses had been modelled.

The need to leave messages created perhaps the most widespread occasion for indigenous mapping. In the northern part of the continent, where the bark of the white tree birches afforded a widely available medium, maps were inscribed on the inner surface of the bark with wooden, stone or, later, metal styli and left behind in prominent or predetermined places. Until the middle of the nineteenth century such maps were particularly common in the upper Mississippi valley and Greak Lakes basin, where they were often found inserted into the end of a pole which had been stripped of its bark to make it conspicuous. They usually indicated the number and composition of the party, the mode of travel, the completed and proposed routes and the immediate destination. The cartographic component, usually limited to the representation of rivers, lakes, portages (at which canoes had to be carried between waterways) and camp sites along the route, was perfectly intelligible to those with a knowledge of the area but variable scale, stereotyped representation of features and disregard for direction resulted in patterns quite unlike those on a modern topographic map. Because of their short-lived function and fragile nature few examples have survived but one which was found in 1841 on the watershed between the Ottawa River and Lake Huron was forwarded to the United Services Institution by Captain Bainbrigge R.E. in the hope that it might 'shew young officers how small an effort is needed to acquire that most useful art, Military Sketching ... ' (Fig. 6).[15]


Other examples are related to hunting activities. One from Maine depicts in relation to a river system the movements of two Passamaquoddy hunters. They set out together up the main river but separated at a fork. One followed the right-hand branch as far as a lake, where he erected his tepee. Failing to make a kill he became hungry but was away hunting when his partner arrived from the left-hand fork. Finding a birchbark message with an upturned pot symbolizing hunger the partner added topographical information about the area around his tepee on the left fork, indicated his hunting success by means of a mooses' head at the site where he had made the kill and inserted the route between the two tepees as an invitation to his partner to join him (Figs. 7a and b).[16]


Extant examples of early maps drawn for indigenous use are relatively rare, either because they were not made to last, were made on fragile or otherwise impermanent materials or were considered unimportant by the whites who saw them. Occasionally they come onto the market. Recent examples include the British Library's purchase from the Royal United Services Institution of the birchbark map found by Captain Bainbrigge in 1841. As recently as October 1978 eight birchbark maps of northwestern Ontario were auctioned in Montreal. They were collected by Robert Bell about 1890 but Douglas W. Marshall of the William L. Clements Library has reservations about the provenance of four pieces purchased by the library. More exciting, but far more problematical, is a painted skin which is supposed to date from 1607 and to incorporate within its complex design a crude chart of the James River, Virginia. Purchased about 1940 by Frank H. Stewart of Philadelphia it is now in the Special Collections Division of the Learning Resource Center at Glassboro State College, New Jersey. It would appear to have been overlooked since Stewart wrote a newspaper article about it in 1945 and merits re-examination in the light of recent historical research and with the aid of new analytical techniques. [17] Items of this type in public collections are almost always classified as artefacts rather than maps and their cartographic content has not always been apparent to custodians or included in their descriptions. Whereas transcripts of Indian maps are usually readily found in archival and map collections, often associated with the papers of those who collected them, artefacts are usually included in the ethnographic collections of museums and private collectors. Hence, they are more difficult to locate. Dewdney's analysis of Southern Ojibway migration charts was based on eight certain and seven possible examples located in nine public (US 4, Canada 3, UK 2) and three private collections. An interesting Paw nee sky chart on buckskin in the Field Museum, Chicago, could provide the beginning for an equally interesting analysis of astronomical knowledge but would involve an act of faith that other examples could be found (Fig. 8).

More numerous, though perhaps less significant, are the maps solicited from the Indians by whites. Most of these are on paper, though some of the earliest are on skin. Prior to the mid nineteenth century they were solicited by explorers, traders, soldiers and missionaries in the course of their activities on the fringes of the continent's vast terra incognita. Thereafter, field scientists became the most assiduous class of collectors and, because of their systematic training and institutional support, it is their collections which have tended to survive. In most cases they were interested in the information content of the maps rather than in the maps as artefacts and they therefore tended to make transcripts rather than preserve the originals. Though less significant in terms of what they reveal about the ways in which Indians viewed and represented their world, solicited maps are important as historical evidence in general and as sources which were often included, albeit unacknowledged, in the mixes of data from which pre-survey printed maps were compiled. Indeed, they are so important that they merit separate treatment.

Given the significance of Indian maps and mapping activities and of the mapping of pre-literate peoples in general it is surprising that scholars have aevoted so little attention to it. German scholars from Alexander von Humboldt in 1836 to Georg Friederici in 1936 were a partial exception and Bruno Adler's 350 page global review of 1910 (in Russian but best known through an inadequate eleven page abridgement in English [18]) remains the best single source. Friederici was specifically concerned with American examples[19] but in common with other German scolars he was content to cull the literature of exploration for references to aboriginal mapping activities without searching in archives and museums for examples of the art. For approximately half a century the Germans also lost interest in the topic. In a global survey of the history of cartography which exceeded 500 pages Bagrow's three and a quarter pages on the maps of primitive peoples may well have adequately reflected the relative status of research but was a grave injustice to the topic.[20] Within the last ten years there have been signs of renewed interest, at least within North America, where geographers in particular have begun to make significant contributions [21] Work on a provisional cartobibliography of both Indian and Inuit maps is nearing completion [22] In a five volume survey of the history of cartography which it is proposed to publish in the early 1980s a major section on the cartography of pre¬literate cultures will contain a substantial contribution relating to North America. [23] However, many maps and references to mapping still remain unknown, unrecorded or unreported. Collectors, custodians as well as scholars share a responsibility to discover, record and report them. In doing so they will extend the still too narrow base which will lead, among other things, to a fuller understanding not only of the maps themselves but of the cognitions and skills which created them, the purposes for which they were intended, and their significance in the exploration and mapping of North America.

References:

1. Prentice G. Downes, Sleeping Island ... (London, 1943?), p.82; Richard Hakluyt, The third and last volume of the voyages ... (London, 1600), p. 438.
2. Untitled manuscript map of the east coast of North America (the 'Velasco' map), 1611, in the Archivo General de Simancas. Reproduced in colour in William P. Cumming et. aI., The Discovery of North America (London, 1971), pp. 266-7.
3. William Hole, engr., 'Virginia' in John Smith, A Map of Virginia (Oxford, 1612). Reproduced in William P. Cumming, et. al., The Discovery ... , p. 259.
4. Smith, op. cit., p. 10.
5. 'A relatyon ... written ... by a gent. of ye Colony' , in 1607, in the Public Record Office, London. Reprinted in Philip L. Barbour ed., 'The Jamestown voyages under the first Charter 1606-1609', vol. 1, Hakluyt Society, 2nd Series, no. 136 (Cambridge, 1969), p. 82.
6. Smith, op. cit., p. 46.
7. Description of a petroglyph map near Warm Spring Ferry, Idaho, in a letter of 14 January, 1897, from Edmund T. Perkins Jr. to J. Wesley Powell, now in the National Anthropological Archives, Washington, D.C.
8. John Smith in Samuel Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes (London, 1625), pt. 4, pp. 1708-9.
9. John Heckewelder, 'An account of the history, manners, and customs of the Indian natives ... ' Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee of the American Philosophical Society 1 (1819), pp. 286-90.
10. Selwyn H. Dewdney, The Sacred Scrolls of the Southern Ojibway (Toronto, 1975), ch apt. 5.
11. Un titled manuscript map presented by Non Chi ning a (No Heart) now in the National Archives, Cartographic Branch, Washington D.e., originally accompanying 'Journal of proceedings of a council held in the city of Washington D.e. with a delegation of Chiefs and braves ... Oct. 7, 1837 at 10 o'clock A.M.', also in the National Archives.
12. Five manuscript sketch maps drawn by Shanawdithit in 1829, Newfoundland Museum, St. Johns. Reproduced in James P. Howley, The Beothucks or Red Indians ... (Cambridge, 1915), sketches I-V.
13. Richard r. Dodge, The Hunting Grounds of the Great West (London, 1877), p. 414.
14. Gilbert M. Sproat, Scenes and Studies of Savage Life (London, 1868), p. 192.
15. Map incised on birch bark and accompanied by the explan¬ation 'Map drawn by Indians ... found by Capt. Bainbrigge RI. Engineers at the 'ridge' between the Ottawa and Lake Huron. May 1841', British Library Map Room.
16. Map supplied by Sapiel Selmo, a Passamaquoddy Chief, in 1887, incised on birch bark and depicting the activities of two Indians on a hunting expedition, National Anthropological Archives, Washington, D.e. Redrafted version with explanation in Garrick Mallery, 'Picture writing of the American Indians', 10th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology 1888-9 (Washington, D.e., 1893), fig. 458 and pp. 349-50.
17. Frank H. Stewart, The Haddon Gazette (Haddonfield, New Jersey), 15 February, 1945.
18. Bruno F. Adler, translated and abridged by H. De.Hutorowicz, 'Maps of primitive peoples', Bulletin of the American Geographical Society 43 (1911), 669-79.
19. Georg Friederici, Der Charakter der Entdeckung und Eroberung Amerikas durch die Europiaer (Stuttgart, 1936), v. 1,157-61.
20. Leo Bagrow, revised and enlarged by R.A. Skelton, History of Cartography (London, 1964),25-28.
21. For example, recent publications by D. Wayne Moodie, David H. Pentland, Richard I. Ruggles, John Spink and Louis de Vorsey and forthcoming publications by G. Malcolm Lewis and Thomas D. Thiessen et. al.
22. G. Malcolm Lewis, 1977-79, with financial support from the Social Science Research Council and the British Academy.
23. To be edited by J. Brian Harley and David Woodward for the University of Chicago Press. Volume 1, which is provisionally scheduled to go to press in 1982, will contain a 50,000 word global review of the cartography of pre-literate peoples.

NB The research upon which this paper is based was supported by financial assistance received at various times from the Newberry Library, the British Academy, the Social Science Research Council (UK) and the University of Sheffield Research Fund.

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