The island of California . A huge triangle of land call Florida . A great sea that cut down from the Arctic into the Midwest . As the New World came into focussing start in the 17th century , explorer and cartographers struggled to measure a massive expanse of land that would take centuries to accurately represent .
Take the long - accept idea that California was really its own island , vulgarize by Explorer who had seen Baja and assume the inlet was actually a continuous true separating present - daytime Cali from the rest of North America . For a number of reasons — including economic and political unity — the myth stuck around for centuries . In fact , there ’s evena consecrate assemblage at Stanforddevoted to this geographic non - truth , of which there are at least 800 function . So what reconnected California to America ? In 1747 , less than 300 years ago , King Ferdinand VI of Spain cleared up a pop misconception with a regal decree : California , it turned out , was n’t an island after all .
But that ’s far from the only cartographic myth that nose its way into caption during the years of geographic expedition . Some of these maps were drawn for navigation , others were pull with out of sight agendas — to , say , goad a fussy monarch to fund new journeys .
America
In 1507 , Martin Waldesmüller became the first map maker to draw a map in which America was a loose - float entity — truly a new continent . It was also the first map to even practice the name “ America , ” for the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci , the first to prove that the newly - discovered West Indies were n’t in reality India . Of course , the map does n’t show us much , though a pyramid - shaped Florida does make an appearance , indicate down towards Cuba . Beyond the thin landmass of the southeasterly seaboard , though ? Terra incognita , unknown lands , represented here by more sea . [ LearnNC ]
North and South America
This mapping , drawn in 1540 by by Sebastian Münster , was the very first printed map that called the with child dead body of water to the Occident of the land by the name Pacific . Orient yourself using the island of “ Zipangri , ” the name Marco Polo gave to Japan — seemingly just a few hundred miles aside from coastal North America . [ Princeton Library ]
The Eastern Seaboard
Gigantic fish , mermen , volcano , and all manner of other antic details illustrate this 1562 function by Diego Gutiérrez , whose intentions were clear : Depict America as a wondrous , resource rich land — and thus convince European monarchs to fund more expeditions . [ Library of Congress ]
This 1566 is fascinating and colored — the latter , because it was belike commissioned by the aristocracy . It was drawn by French mapmaker Nicolas Desliens , who was part of the famedDieppe Schoolof mapmaking , and it shows a astonishingly accurate delegacy of the eastern boundary of the Americas ( thoughsome postulatethat its maker may have manufacture the entire continent to spur the French monarchs to colonize ! ) . What this function so vividly illustrates , with its verdant green boundaries , is that everything east of , say , Iowa , was unknown . Here , it ’s represent as more ocean . [ DaBrownstein ]
California
One of the most beautiful and detailed maps of the theoretical Island of California comes courtesy of Nicolas Sanson , a French majestic geographer and the script behind some of early maps of America . He draw this one in 1656 , pay Europe its first real look at the American Southwest . [ The Newberry Digital Collection;Branner Earth Sciences Library and Map Collections ]
New England
In 1676 , a clergyman nominate William Hubbard — who was one of the first historians to publish about New England — published this map , the first to ever be printed in America . It shows New England with north orient to the rightfield , admit details like Rhode Island and New Haven . The map ’s name mouth of the style of the day : A Map of New - England , Being the First That Ever Was Here Cut , and Done by the Best Pattern That Could Be Had , Which Being in Some Places Defective , It Made the Other Less Exact : Yet Doth It Sufficiently Shew the Scituation of the Country , and Conveniently . [ The Newberry Digital Collection;UMASS ]
New “Jarsey” and Philadelphia
English mapmaker and “ Hydrographer to the King , ” John Seller draw this reasonably accurate beauty in 1675 , as part of his “ Atlas Maritimus . ” It ’s the first time Philadelphia was ever named on a map — and the second sentence Pennsylvania was — and it shows two separate Jerseys , East and West , along with name like Cape May and Great Egg , still familiar to us today . [ MapsofPA ]
The Great Lakes
Vincenzo Coronelli was a Franciscan Monk and cartographer known in the European courts for making massive , geographically accurate globes . But he was also a mapmaker , and author of the first printed map to show the entire Great Lakes . Of course , they were n’t as arrant as Google Earth ’s might be — but for the 1688 , this was n’t half bad . [ Great Lakes Maps ]
A 1707 map by a Dutch cartographer bear witness , again , the great island of California — as well as some interesting fable regarding Asia . But ante up peculiar care to America , too , since there are some fascinating details , like how the Great Lakes , here , are one long , massive river that flows through North America from Quebec . [ Princeton Library ]
The Great Lakes and Mississippi
A 1718 map bid The track of the Mississippi , or the St. Louis , the famous river of North America shows how one cartographer imagined the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River connecting . This map was made by the Company of the West , which was responsible for the wild economical speculation in the realm — in 1720 , it became one of the earliest example of a “ burst ” economical house of cards . This map must ’ve been a helpful tool for the ship’s company ’s attempts at attracting upper-case letter . [ The Newberry Digital Collection ]
North and Central America
In 1750 , California was no longer an island and the true shape of the North American land mass was starting to emerge , though British Columbia and the far N are still chartless waters . Gallic cartographer Robert de Vaugondy draw this single-valued function , which helps to excuse the particular care collapse to modern - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. Canada , where the French had limited interests . [ Princeton Library ]
The East Coast
Here ’s where things start to take care rightfully advanced : A 1755 single-valued function of the East Coast , drawn by cartographer John Mitchell , show the seeds of the modern U.S. , including roads and settlements . Of course , the boastful difference here are the lines that divide it — this mathematical function was actually drawn on the eve of the Seven Years ’ War with a hidden agenda : To jell forth the territorial title of the British against the French . [ The Newberry Digital Collection ]
conduce figure of speech : Wikimedia Commons .
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