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- The French Mapping of North America in the Seventeenth Century
The French Mapping of North America in the Seventeenth Century
- By The Map Collector
- Published 1 December 1980
- Maps
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The Map Collector
The Map Collector, initiated by Peter Scott and Valerie G. Newby, was a journal on historical cartography published every quarter. The first issue appeared in 1997 and continued for nearly 20 years. After 74 issues the last copy appeared in Spring 1996. Mrs. Valerie G. Newby, is presently editor of the IMCoS Journal.
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by Conrad E. Heidenreich and Edward H. Dahl
This article is the work of two very well known figures in the map world, Professor Heidenreich of the Department of Geography, York University, Downsview, Ontario and Ed Dahl, Curator of Early Canadian Cartography at the National Map Collection, Public Archives of Canada. They are at present collaborating once more on a follow up article for readers of The Map Collector on the eighteenth-century mapping of New France.
The seventeeth century was the great period of French exploration in North America. Missionaries, fur traders, soldiers and others explored the vast, uncharted area west from the Atlantic Coast across the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, north to James Bay and south to the Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico. This exploration occurred not as a smooth process, but rather developed in a series of distinct phases shaped largely by French-native relations, European rivalries in North America, and changing motives behind the fur trade and missionary endeavours.
Map-makers in each of these phases, drawing on direct observation and often aided by native geographical accounts, produced manuscript and printed maps which, collectively, illustrate the growing European knowledge of the interior of the continent. The major printed maps of the seventeenth century which best depict the course of exploration and the growth in geographical knowledge of New France are a fascinating study in the history of North American cartography.
The sixteenth-century maps of New France are charts of the Atlantic Coast; most of those made during the latter half of the century also include the St. Lawrence Valley, based largely on Jacques Cartier's expeditions. A few maps even display vague notions of some interior lakes reflecting incompletely understood native accounts. Some of the better known printed maps at the end of the century are De Jode's 'Americae Pars Bo= / Realis, Florida, Baccala= / Os, Canada Corterea= / Lis,' dated 1593, and the so-called Wright-Molyneux world map published by Richard Hakluyt in The Principal Navigation ... of the English Nation (London, 1598). By and large, the maps of this early period are characterized by a lack of technical expertise, a great deal of guesswork, and much confused copying. They stand in stark contrast to the maps produced in the seventeenth century.
The scientific exploration and mapping of New France began with the work of Samuel de Champlain in 1603. In 1613, he published Les Voyages which includes twenty-two large-scale plans of potential harbours and other features between Cape Cod and the Lachine Rapids, as well as two small-scale maps of New France based largely on his own observations. The larger of the latter two, his 1612 'Carte Geographiqve De La Nouvelle France'..., is the first reasonably accurate survey of the Atlantic Coast and the St. Lawrence Valley. It contains a recognizable Lake Ontario based on native stories and maps gathered by him in 1603. His other map, the 'Carte geographique de la / Nouelle franse ...' (1613), was the first attempt to combine the most recent British and French explorations, as represented by Hudson and Champlain, into a complete map of eastern North America. In 1615, Champlain was drawn inland to Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario by a hope to establish trade relations with the interior native groups, particularly the Huron, and to discover a water route to China. In return for permission to undertake such a trip, he promised the Huron and other native groups continuing aid in their wars against the Iroquois tribes. This journey resulted in 1616 in an incomplete and untitled map which was later finished and published by Pierre Du Val as 'Le Canada ...' in 1653 with further states in 1664, 1669, and 1677. Champlain's final map, 'Carte de la nouuelle france ...,' was published in 1632. This map, which exists in two states, is an excellent summary of the geography of New France as it was known by 1629, the year the French were expelled from the St. Lawrence Valley by an English force led by David Kirke, an event later described as 'the first English conquest of Canada'.
In 1632, the French returned to the St. Lawrence and began a new phase of exploration carried out primarily by the Company of Jesus. As missionary efforts expanded to the various native groups and also encompassed Jesuit diplomatic missions to remote as well as hostile tribes, exploration of the interior was greatly increased. Before mid-century, the Jesuit donné, Jean Nicollet, had penetrated to Lake Michigan and various missionaries had been to Sault Ste. Marie, the Niagara area, and the Mohawk country west of the upper Hudson Valley. Their activities came to an abrupt end in 1649 with the dispersion of the Southern Ontario native groups at the hands of the Iroquois confederacy. For the next five years, French activities were confined to the St. Lawrence Valley.
The maps that best depict Jesuit cartographic achievements to 1649 are two maps by Nicolas Sanson and one attributed to Father Francesco Bressani . The Sanson maps, 'Ameriqve /Septentrionale dated 1650, and 'Le Canada, ou / Nouvelle France dated 1656, show the eastern Great Lakes for the first time in more or less their true shape. Both maps depict the distribution of major native groups as well as the main European settlements and French territorial claims. The Bressani map, `Novae Franciae Accurata / Delineatio 1657,' is unusually beautiful; the original engraving in the Bibliotheque nationals in Paris is unfortunately the only complete copy known to exist. The western half of the map is known through several examples which the authors suspect to be recent printings from the original plate on old paper. The map exhibits Jesuit knowledge of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence area before 1650, and includes an inset of the Huron country, a number of very accurate drawings of native life, and what is probably the earliest picture of the martyrdom of Fathers Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant.
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COPYRIGHT December 1980 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
This article is the work of two very well known figures in the map world, Professor Heidenreich of the Department of Geography, York University, Downsview, Ontario and Ed Dahl, Curator of Early Canadian Cartography at the National Map Collection, Public Archives of Canada. They are at present collaborating once more on a follow up article for readers of The Map Collector on the eighteenth-century mapping of New France.
The seventeeth century was the great period of French exploration in North America. Missionaries, fur traders, soldiers and others explored the vast, uncharted area west from the Atlantic Coast across the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, north to James Bay and south to the Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico. This exploration occurred not as a smooth process, but rather developed in a series of distinct phases shaped largely by French-native relations, European rivalries in North America, and changing motives behind the fur trade and missionary endeavours.
Map-makers in each of these phases, drawing on direct observation and often aided by native geographical accounts, produced manuscript and printed maps which, collectively, illustrate the growing European knowledge of the interior of the continent. The major printed maps of the seventeenth century which best depict the course of exploration and the growth in geographical knowledge of New France are a fascinating study in the history of North American cartography.
The sixteenth-century maps of New France are charts of the Atlantic Coast; most of those made during the latter half of the century also include the St. Lawrence Valley, based largely on Jacques Cartier's expeditions. A few maps even display vague notions of some interior lakes reflecting incompletely understood native accounts. Some of the better known printed maps at the end of the century are De Jode's 'Americae Pars Bo= / Realis, Florida, Baccala= / Os, Canada Corterea= / Lis,' dated 1593, and the so-called Wright-Molyneux world map published by Richard Hakluyt in The Principal Navigation ... of the English Nation (London, 1598). By and large, the maps of this early period are characterized by a lack of technical expertise, a great deal of guesswork, and much confused copying. They stand in stark contrast to the maps produced in the seventeenth century.
The scientific exploration and mapping of New France began with the work of Samuel de Champlain in 1603. In 1613, he published Les Voyages which includes twenty-two large-scale plans of potential harbours and other features between Cape Cod and the Lachine Rapids, as well as two small-scale maps of New France based largely on his own observations. The larger of the latter two, his 1612 'Carte Geographiqve De La Nouvelle France'..., is the first reasonably accurate survey of the Atlantic Coast and the St. Lawrence Valley. It contains a recognizable Lake Ontario based on native stories and maps gathered by him in 1603. His other map, the 'Carte geographique de la / Nouelle franse ...' (1613), was the first attempt to combine the most recent British and French explorations, as represented by Hudson and Champlain, into a complete map of eastern North America. In 1615, Champlain was drawn inland to Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario by a hope to establish trade relations with the interior native groups, particularly the Huron, and to discover a water route to China. In return for permission to undertake such a trip, he promised the Huron and other native groups continuing aid in their wars against the Iroquois tribes. This journey resulted in 1616 in an incomplete and untitled map which was later finished and published by Pierre Du Val as 'Le Canada ...' in 1653 with further states in 1664, 1669, and 1677. Champlain's final map, 'Carte de la nouuelle france ...,' was published in 1632. This map, which exists in two states, is an excellent summary of the geography of New France as it was known by 1629, the year the French were expelled from the St. Lawrence Valley by an English force led by David Kirke, an event later described as 'the first English conquest of Canada'.
In 1632, the French returned to the St. Lawrence and began a new phase of exploration carried out primarily by the Company of Jesus. As missionary efforts expanded to the various native groups and also encompassed Jesuit diplomatic missions to remote as well as hostile tribes, exploration of the interior was greatly increased. Before mid-century, the Jesuit donné, Jean Nicollet, had penetrated to Lake Michigan and various missionaries had been to Sault Ste. Marie, the Niagara area, and the Mohawk country west of the upper Hudson Valley. Their activities came to an abrupt end in 1649 with the dispersion of the Southern Ontario native groups at the hands of the Iroquois confederacy. For the next five years, French activities were confined to the St. Lawrence Valley.
The maps that best depict Jesuit cartographic achievements to 1649 are two maps by Nicolas Sanson and one attributed to Father Francesco Bressani . The Sanson maps, 'Ameriqve /Septentrionale dated 1650, and 'Le Canada, ou / Nouvelle France dated 1656, show the eastern Great Lakes for the first time in more or less their true shape. Both maps depict the distribution of major native groups as well as the main European settlements and French territorial claims. The Bressani map, `Novae Franciae Accurata / Delineatio 1657,' is unusually beautiful; the original engraving in the Bibliotheque nationals in Paris is unfortunately the only complete copy known to exist. The western half of the map is known through several examples which the authors suspect to be recent printings from the original plate on old paper. The map exhibits Jesuit knowledge of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence area before 1650, and includes an inset of the Huron country, a number of very accurate drawings of native life, and what is probably the earliest picture of the martyrdom of Fathers Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant.
Read Full Article >>
[Acrobat Reader required]
COPYRIGHT December 1980 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
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Article Series
This article is part 1 of a 2 part series. Other articles in this series are shown below:
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The French Mapping of North America in the Seventeenth Century
