A New & Accurate Map of Louisiana, with Part of Florida and Canada, and the Adjacent Countries. Drawn from Surveys, Assisted by the Most Approved English & French Maps & Charts.
- Title:
- A New & Accurate Map of Louisiana, with Part of Florida and Canada, and the Adjacent Countries. Drawn from Surveys, Assisted by the Most Approved English & French Maps & Charts.
- Alternate Title:
- A New & Accurate Map of Louisiana
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Bowen, Emanuel
- Date:
- 1752
- Date 2:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2307.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2307_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- Before 1800
- Subject:
- Other War & Peace
Imperialism
Politics & Government - Measurement:
- 35 x 42 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- The most remarkable thing about this map, published two years before the onset of the French and Indian War, is that the English mapmaker Emanuel Bowen set out a profoundly French view of competing territorial claims in North America, at the expense of the British. Moreover, Bowen includes a legend expressly acknowledging his reliance on French authorities.
On this map, the English colonies are tightly cabined to the east of the Appalachians. Indeed, Bowen even needed to reduce the size of the fonts and the shapes of the legends for some colonies (Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) to fit them into the cramped space. The legend for French Louisiana, in contrast, stretches west from the foothills of the Appalachians as far as modern Texas, Oklahoma and parts of New Mexico. The title legend says that the map was based on surveys and “the most approved English & French Maps & Charts.” But in a separate legend, Bowen states that he relied “particularly” on “Monsr. Bellin’s Maps of Canada Louisiana &c drawn by him for the Use of P. Charlevoix’s History of New France” (1744), and that “as our Maps of these parts differ considerably from most others, this difference must be principally attributed to our relying on Monsr. Bellin’s Authority.”
In the years before the French and Indian War, "tensions over dominance in North America flared as British and French cartographers each claimed large, overlapping territories for their respective colonies on the continent." Brown 2015, 7. The results of this cartographic competition include a number of the most remarkable maps in American history, not least of which was Guillaume Delisle's landmark 1718 "Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi" on the French side. Clark 2005, 192-97. See generally Schwartz 1980, 142-164. There is a clear and direct line from Delisle’s work through Bellin’s map of 1744 to this Bowen map expressing French notions of North American colonization.
This map was first published in 1747 in Bowen’s Complete System of Geography (plate 59) and republished in the 1752 edition (plate 100). While Bowen served both George II and Louis XV, these works were published in London and identified him as “Geographer to his Majesty.” Unsurprisingly, Bowen clarified his allegiance and reversed his position only two years later, setting forth an entirely different, British view of North America in his “Map of the British American Plantations,” The Gentleman's Magazine, London, July 1754, ID #2247.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- Bowen, Emanuel. 1752. A complete system of geography. London: Printed for William Innys, Richard Ware, Aaron Ward, J. and P. Knapton, John Clarke, T. Longman and T. Shewell, Thomas Osborne, Henry Whitridge.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.