Detail View: Touchton Map Library: A New Map of the United States of North America with British Dominions on that Continent & c.

L2011.070.052

M261

A New Map of the United States of North America with British Dominions on that Continent & c.

1786

June 10

Samuel Dunn

Capt. Carver

Robt. Sayer

London

This rare 1786 map of the United States by Samuel Dun and Robert Sayer is one of the earliest obtainable English maps to embrace the term 'United Sates.' The map was prepared by Samuel Dunn, a British mathematician, based upon earlier maps by Sayer and significantly updated by the explorations of Jonathan Carver. Centered on the Great Lakes, it covers from Baffin Bay to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, and from Lake Winnipeg to Greenland, the Atlantic seaboard, and the Grand Banks. One of the Earliest British Maps to Name the United States This map reflects a changing British perspective on the United States. Published shortly after the Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolutionary War, the British were forced to concede the existence of a large and powerful new country. British mapmakers were slow to respond to the new geography, with the present map being one of the earliest British commercial maps to embrace the newly forged United States. The cartographer, nonetheless, leaves a fair amount of ambiguity with regard to the borders. The Western border of the United States, in the vicinity of modern day Minnesota, is left unmarked while to the south and north borders with Spanish Louisiana and British Canada are clearly defined. It is noteworthy that all of Lake Michigan then, as now, falls within the United States. Indistinct State Borders and Conflict The individual states themselves also exhibit ambiguous borders west of the Appalachian Mountains. The new states that would eventually emerge in this region, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Alabama, and Ohio, are as yet almost exclusively American Indian territories. Notably the coast to coast grants originally offered to North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, are clearly rejected. Some of these ambiguous boundaries would eventually lead to disputes between the states such as the Third Pennamite War (1774), fought over the Wyoming Valley and the northern boundary of Pennsylvania. A Denial of the Northwest Passage The British, Americans, and French all realized the potential profit of a Northwest Passage. Expedition after expedition was launched into the Artic, discovering Hudson and Baffin Bay – but no route to the Pacific. In the late 18th century, it was long hoped that a passage might be still be found from the Hudson Bay leading westward to the Pacific and, thus, the rich markets of Asia. Dunn here boldly rejects the notion, The North and South Tides meet below Marble Island and are always equal on the same days; so that neither of them can come from the Pacific Ocean whose distance likewise of above 430 leagues, has long cry'd aloud that there is no Passage at least for Ships from Hudson Bay. He does, nonetheless, embrace the cartography of Carver, who believed he had discovered an inland river passage to the Pacific. This he suggestively illustrates via a vast network of rivers extending from Lakes Superior, past the Lake of the Woods, as far as Lake Winnipeg, with additional unexplored rivers extending further west. This cartography, he believed, would eventually load to the Pacific. Ultimately, French Canadian coureurs des bois would discover the westward river passage, but not until the early 19th century. This map drawn by Samuel Dunn and engraved by Robert Sayer. A variant was originally published under the imprint of Sayer and Bennett with the title A Map of the British Empire in North America. A second issue was published in 1776 to in British wartime interest in maps of America. The plate was altered in 1783 to reflect the Treaty of Paris. This fourth issue is as the third issue, but with Sayer's 1786 imprint in the lower margin. It is reasonably scarce and appears on the market infrequently.

L2019.093.009