Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 4 (of 8): French Explorations and Settlements in North America and Those of the Portuguese, Dutch, and Swedes 1500-1700
History
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 4 (of 8): French Explorations and Settlements in North America and Those of the Portuguese, Dutch, and Swedes 1500-1700
America -- Discovery and exploration; America -- History; United States -- History
Next in chronological order comes an engraved map (15½ × 10½)
with the following title: _Il disegno del discoperto della Nova Franza
... Venetijs aeneis formis Bolognini Zalterij, Anno M.D. LXVI_.[351]
It gives the whole breadth of the continent, and is very erroneous in
the eastern parts. The “R. S. Lorenzo” runs southeast from a large
lake into the ocean between Lacadia and Baccalaos, while Ochelaga and
Stadaconi[352] are on a river running east farther to the north, whose
headwaters are in a region called “Canada.” The island C. Berton, as
well as Sable Island (Y. Darena), would seem to indicate that the coast
to the north of them is intended for the modern Nova Scotia, which
would make the river running from the lake the Penobscot, and the group
of islands east of Baccalaos a disjointed Newfoundland, compelling
the river rising near Canada to do duty for the St. Lawrence. The
large island, “Gamas,” is perhaps a reminiscence of Gomez.[353] The
map in these parts is so confused, however, that its chief interest
is to illustrate the strange commingling of error and truth, “which
we have received lately,” as the inscription reads, “from the latest
explorations of the French,”—which must, if it means anything, refer
to Roberval. The map has signs neither of latitude nor longitude. In
general contour it resembles other Italian maps of this time, like
those of Forlani, Porcacchi, etc. Zaltieri differs from Forlani,
however, in separating America from Asia.
The great mappemonde of Gerard Mercator, introducing his well-known
projection, followed in 1569. The annexed sketch indicates its
important bearing on a portion of North American cartography. The
St. Lawrence is extended much farther inland than ever before, with
no signs of the Great Lakes, and it is made to rise in the southerly
part of the region, put in modern maps west of the Mississippi,
among mountains which also form a watershed westerly to the Gulf of
California and southerly to the Gulf of Mexico.
[Illustration: MERCATOR, 1569.
The key is as follows: 1. Hic mare est dulcium aquarum, cujus terminum
ignorari Canadenses ex relatu Saguenaiesium aiunt. 2. Hoc fluvio
facilior est navigatio in Saguenai. 3. Hochelaga. 4. P^o de Jacques
Cartier. 5. Belle ysle. 6. C. de Razo. 7. C. de Breton. 8. Y. della
Assumptione. 9. G. de Chaleur.
A fac-simile of this map is given on a later page.]
Kohl[354] sums up his essay on this map as follows: “It is a remarkable
fact, that while the icy seas and coasts of Greenland, Labrador,
Newfoundland, and Canada were depicted on the maps of the sixteenth
century with a high degree of truth, our coasts of New England and New
York were badly drawn so late as 1569; and their cartography remained
very defective through nearly the whole of the sixteenth century.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account