- Home
- Books, Manuscripts and Maps
- Maps
- The French Mapping of North America 1700-1760
The French Mapping of North America 1700-1760
- By The Map Collector
- Published 1 June 1982
- Maps
- Unrated
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.
www.imcos.org
by Conrad E. Heidenreich and Edward H. Dahl
In Issue 13, published in December 1980, we printed an article by Edward Dahl of the Public Archives of Canada and Conrad Heidenreich of York University, Downsview, Ontario, on the French mapping of North America in the seventeenth century. This is the follow up story of the mapping activity of the same area but during the eighteenth century.
BY THE CLOSE of the seventeenth century, most of New France had been adequately represented on printed maps. Four areas, however, remained little known to the European explorer: the Mississippi Valley, the lands west of Lake Superior, the maze of rivers and lakes along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River cast of Montreal, and the Ohio Valley.
Seventeenth-century exploration had been carried out largely by men less interested in mapping than they were in furs and souls. It was a period during which Europeans came to know and to map in recognizable form the major river and lake systems of New France. Mapping during the period 17(X) to 1760 — the last sixty years of New France's existence — was motivated principally by the more exact requirements of settlement, the safe movement of ships, territorial claims and war, all of which required greater cartographic precision and a type of mapmaker quite different from that of the preceding century. While amateurs were still active in the little-known periphery of New France, the strategic St. Lawrence River-Great Lakes area was now being mapped almost exclusively by French army and naval personnel. Most of the manuscript material produced by these men eventually found its way back to European military archives where it became accessible to a few professional cartographers for inclusion on
printed maps. A study of the major printed maps based on this material reveals that the process of disseminating new-found geographical knowledge to the public was by no means as smooth and ordered as one might expect.
The cartography of New France in the eighteenth century can be divided into two periods at 1744, the year which marked the appearance of the printed maps of Jacques-Nicolas Bellin and the beginning of the War of the Austrian Succession (King George'sWar). Both periods can be studied in terms of a number of printed map traditions that became standard outlines for the period and furnished the basic material for a host of map copiers. Between 1700 and 1744, the major traditions were the maps of the De ]'Isles (Claude and Guillaume, especially the latter) and Lahontan, mapmakers who had their roots in the seventeenth century. After the appearance of Bellin's first maps, the earlier outlines were quickly replaced by those based on his maps and those of Jean- Baptiste Bourguignon D'Anville and John Mitchell. These new map traditions lasted until almost the end of the eighteenth century.
In the period before 1744, five important mapping activities took place, but the results of only two of these reached printed form during this period. In 1700 and 1701, Pierre-Charles Le Sueur explored and mapped the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico to the junction of the Minnesota River. His manuscript map was copied by Guillaume De l'Isle in 1702 and was incorporated into the De ]'Isles' `Carte / du Canada / on de la / Nouvelle France' the following year. In 1685, the hydrographer Jean Deshayes had begun a hydrographic survey of the St. Lawrence River. The resulting chart was engraved and printed by Nicolas de Fer in 1702 as Carte Marine / De L'Embouchure / De La / Riviere De S. Laurens.' Reprinted in 1715 in a second state, it became the standard chart of the St. Lawrence during the French regime.
The other three important mapping activities found their way into print only when Bellin began using the manuscript maps at the Depot des cartes et plans de la Marine in Paris to construct the maps he provided for Pierre-Francois-Xavier de Charlevoix's Histoire et description generale de la Nouvelle France, published in 1744. In 1731, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Verendrye pushed westward from Lake Superior.' During the preceding three years, he had questioned Cree and Assiniboin about the lakes country to the west and had obtained maps from them. One of these native sketch maps, drawn by the Cree Ochagach and others, was later used by Bellin and Philippe Buache. Between 1733 and 1750,various members of the La Verendrye expedition, none practiced in cartography, sent maps to Quebec which were then forwarded to the Depot des cartes in France.
At the same time as La Verendrye worked his way to the West, the Jesuit Pierre-Michel Laure was exploring the Saguenay River area and the north shore of the St. Lawrence as far east as the Moisie River.' Like many of his seventeenth-century predecessors who had explored the Great Lakes area, Laure was interested in geography. With the help of native informants, he drew five maps between 1731 and 1733 and these, like La Verendrye's maps, were sent to the Depot des cartes.
Of the French cartographers working in North America in the eighteenth century, the most active were Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Lery and his son of the same name. In his capacity as chief engineer of the army in New France, the elder Chaussegros de Lery had ample opportunity to travel, inspect and make recommendations for fortifying the country. Between his arrival in New France in 1716 and his death in 1756, he drew maps and plans that spanned the country from Louisbourg to Lake Superior.° His son joined him in these activities in the 1730s when he was only in his mid-teens. None of their maps were published under their name, but most were used by others, such as Bellin, who had access to them at the Depot des cartes.
Read Full Article >>
[Acrobat Reader required]
COPYRIGHT June 1982 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.
In Issue 13, published in December 1980, we printed an article by Edward Dahl of the Public Archives of Canada and Conrad Heidenreich of York University, Downsview, Ontario, on the French mapping of North America in the seventeenth century. This is the follow up story of the mapping activity of the same area but during the eighteenth century.
BY THE CLOSE of the seventeenth century, most of New France had been adequately represented on printed maps. Four areas, however, remained little known to the European explorer: the Mississippi Valley, the lands west of Lake Superior, the maze of rivers and lakes along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River cast of Montreal, and the Ohio Valley.
Seventeenth-century exploration had been carried out largely by men less interested in mapping than they were in furs and souls. It was a period during which Europeans came to know and to map in recognizable form the major river and lake systems of New France. Mapping during the period 17(X) to 1760 — the last sixty years of New France's existence — was motivated principally by the more exact requirements of settlement, the safe movement of ships, territorial claims and war, all of which required greater cartographic precision and a type of mapmaker quite different from that of the preceding century. While amateurs were still active in the little-known periphery of New France, the strategic St. Lawrence River-Great Lakes area was now being mapped almost exclusively by French army and naval personnel. Most of the manuscript material produced by these men eventually found its way back to European military archives where it became accessible to a few professional cartographers for inclusion on
printed maps. A study of the major printed maps based on this material reveals that the process of disseminating new-found geographical knowledge to the public was by no means as smooth and ordered as one might expect.
The cartography of New France in the eighteenth century can be divided into two periods at 1744, the year which marked the appearance of the printed maps of Jacques-Nicolas Bellin and the beginning of the War of the Austrian Succession (King George'sWar). Both periods can be studied in terms of a number of printed map traditions that became standard outlines for the period and furnished the basic material for a host of map copiers. Between 1700 and 1744, the major traditions were the maps of the De ]'Isles (Claude and Guillaume, especially the latter) and Lahontan, mapmakers who had their roots in the seventeenth century. After the appearance of Bellin's first maps, the earlier outlines were quickly replaced by those based on his maps and those of Jean- Baptiste Bourguignon D'Anville and John Mitchell. These new map traditions lasted until almost the end of the eighteenth century.
In the period before 1744, five important mapping activities took place, but the results of only two of these reached printed form during this period. In 1700 and 1701, Pierre-Charles Le Sueur explored and mapped the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico to the junction of the Minnesota River. His manuscript map was copied by Guillaume De l'Isle in 1702 and was incorporated into the De ]'Isles' `Carte / du Canada / on de la / Nouvelle France' the following year. In 1685, the hydrographer Jean Deshayes had begun a hydrographic survey of the St. Lawrence River. The resulting chart was engraved and printed by Nicolas de Fer in 1702 as Carte Marine / De L'Embouchure / De La / Riviere De S. Laurens.' Reprinted in 1715 in a second state, it became the standard chart of the St. Lawrence during the French regime.
The other three important mapping activities found their way into print only when Bellin began using the manuscript maps at the Depot des cartes et plans de la Marine in Paris to construct the maps he provided for Pierre-Francois-Xavier de Charlevoix's Histoire et description generale de la Nouvelle France, published in 1744. In 1731, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Verendrye pushed westward from Lake Superior.' During the preceding three years, he had questioned Cree and Assiniboin about the lakes country to the west and had obtained maps from them. One of these native sketch maps, drawn by the Cree Ochagach and others, was later used by Bellin and Philippe Buache. Between 1733 and 1750,various members of the La Verendrye expedition, none practiced in cartography, sent maps to Quebec which were then forwarded to the Depot des cartes in France.
At the same time as La Verendrye worked his way to the West, the Jesuit Pierre-Michel Laure was exploring the Saguenay River area and the north shore of the St. Lawrence as far east as the Moisie River.' Like many of his seventeenth-century predecessors who had explored the Great Lakes area, Laure was interested in geography. With the help of native informants, he drew five maps between 1731 and 1733 and these, like La Verendrye's maps, were sent to the Depot des cartes.
Of the French cartographers working in North America in the eighteenth century, the most active were Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Lery and his son of the same name. In his capacity as chief engineer of the army in New France, the elder Chaussegros de Lery had ample opportunity to travel, inspect and make recommendations for fortifying the country. Between his arrival in New France in 1716 and his death in 1756, he drew maps and plans that spanned the country from Louisbourg to Lake Superior.° His son joined him in these activities in the 1730s when he was only in his mid-teens. None of their maps were published under their name, but most were used by others, such as Bellin, who had access to them at the Depot des cartes.
Read Full Article >>
[Acrobat Reader required]
COPYRIGHT June 1982 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.
Spread The Word
Article Series
This article is part 2 of a 2 part series. Other articles in this series are shown below:
-
The French Mapping of North America 1700-1760
