Le Canada, ou Nouvelle France, &c.

Description

Printed map. "Par N. Sanson d'Abbeville geographe ordinaire du Roy." "I. Somer, sculpsit". Donated by Dr. John Morse, Hamilton, September 1997. As stated in the cartouche, information for the middle Atlantic coast is drawn from English and Danish sources, while information for the lower Atlantic coast is drawn from English and Dutch sources. French sources were used for the St. Lawrence and interior regions. The Appalachian Mountains labelled, "Apalatcy Montes," are depicted running east-west rather than north-south, and although all five of the Great Lakes are shown for the first time on a map, Lakes Superior and Michigan are only fragmentary with Michigan being labelled, "Lac de Puans," which eventually became attached to what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Sanson family were the first to use the name Lake "Ontario" on a map, the name appearing earlier for the first recorded time in print in "The Jesuit Relations."