The most interesting maps of the late 17th and early 18th century were French. They penetrated North America up the St. Lawrence River and through the Great Lakes using Indian portages to reach the Ohio and Mississippi River basins. One important portage in Pennsylvania was near Erie, going from the lake overland to French Creek which leads to the Allegheny River. The French eventually built Fort LeBoeuf (supposedly named for the buffalo herds in the region) near Waterford on French Creek to control this portage. Another important Indian portage (not used by the French) was part of the Shamokin Trail and went from Emporium on the Sinnemahoning Creek branch of the Susquehanna River north to Port Allegheny on the Allegheny River.

The English were settling on the coast and knew almost nothing about the lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Indian traders were active, but George Washington in 1753/1754 was one of the first government officials to penetrate the interior. He went up the Potomac River to Wills Creek at Cumberland and then over the mountains towards the Forks of the Ohio following an Indian path called Nemacolin's Trail, later to be known as Braddock's Road.

	1700.1 THE ENGLISH EMPIRE, from Philip Lea, Hydrographia Universalis, London 1700? (McCorkle #700.3). The dating of this map is uncertain and it may have appeared in earlier editions. It shows the coastline from Cape Cod to the Carolinas. The Chesapeake and Delaware bays are clearly shown with their rivers wrongly described. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and New Castle town are named. See map 1685.12 for the apparent first appearance of this small map.
	1700.2 A NEW MAP OF THE MOST CONSIDERABLE PLANTATIONS OF THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA DEDICATED TO HIS HIGHNESS WILLIAM DUKE OF GLOCESTER, from Edward Wells, A new sett of maps both of antient and present geography, Oxford, theatre 1700 (McCorkle #700.9, Burden #773). Wells prepared this atlas for school instruction at Oxford and it was not well known until an edition of 1738. The map is illustrated in Manasek, No. 68. Chester and Philadelphia are named, nothing else.
	1700.3 (Northeast) The British Library has a large (about 3 feet by 3 feet) manuscript map in its collections which it titles "Map of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with part of Long Island," drawn on vellum and dated to circa 1670-1700, in Additional MS. 5414.28. Philadelphia is shown and Tinicum Island identified, nothing else. This map is reproduced in Cumming et al Exploration of North America in Plate 88, also listed by Docktor #18_A5.
	1700.4 DIAGRAM OF A LINE RUN DUE WEST PREPARATORY TO ASCERTAINING THE WESTERN BOUNDARY OF A TRACT OF LAND PURCHASED FROM SHAKHOPPOH AND OTHER INDIANS IN 1685, printed by Bowen and Company, Philadelphia. A map at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania showing the Philadelphia area. Docktor #200B5.
	1701.1 (Maryland & Pennsylvania) Mathews, page 265, lists a manuscript map under this date held by the Maryland Historical Society, which shows the running of the circular boundary around New Castle done in 1701. This is believed to be the map listed in Docktor #200A5, 200A7.
	1701.2 A NEW MAPP OF VIRGINIA, MARYLAND, PENSYLVANIA, NEW JERSEY, PART OF NEW YORK, AND CAROLINA, by John Thornton, sold by Reeve Williams..., by John Thornton..., and Robert Morden.... This map is dated circa 1701 by Pritchard & Taliaferro #16. It is also discussed at the Maryland State Archives (where it is Map #185T7) as being a later version of a map (1685.9) Thornton first made circa 1685. Burden #751 dates it circa 1698 which is the archive record date on a copy in the National Archives. He also identifies a circa 1703 print with Saml. Thornton replacing his father. Another version of this map with the inscription 'sold by T. Page and W. & F. Mount' was published circa 1723-28 and is reproduced in Pritchard & Taliaferro, and is Map #225P5 at the Maryland State Archives.
	1701.3 THE ENGLISH EMPIRE IN AMERICA, NEWFOUND-LAND. CANADA. HUDSONS BAY &C. in plano. Herman Moll fecit. This map is from Moll's A System of Geography, London 1701 (McCorkle #701.1). Pennsylvania is named along with the other colonies. This image is from the National Archives of Canada. The same map appeared in The Compleat Geographer: Or The Chorography and Topography of All Known Parts of The Earth published by Awnsham & John Churchill, London, 1729.
	1702.1 NOVA SVECIA HODIE DICTA PENSYLVANIA, Peter Lindstrom, in Tomas Campanius, Kort Beskrifning om Provincien nya Swerige (A Short Description of the Province of New Sweden), Stockholm, S. Wankijfsankia 1702. This map was discussed in the Introduction and under the 1690's. Peter Lindstrom in 1655 made a map titled Nova Svecia, anno 1654 och 1655, Ardenna Novae Sveciae Carta Med, dess Riviers och Landz situation ock, Beskaffenhet Aftagen ock till Carts, ford af P. Lindstrom. This map was destroyed in a fire in 1697, but a copper engraving was made circa 1696. The map also survived in manuscript form in Lindstrom's manuscript for his Geographia Americae. In 1702 Campanius retitled the map across the top Nova Svecia hodie dicta Pensylvania for his book, retaining the rest of Lindstrom's original imprint on the bottom. This map was reprinted several times in the 19th century. In 1834 Peter S. Du Ponceau translated and published the original book in English as A short description of the province of New Sweden. Now called, by the English, Pennsylvania, in America; in 1843 the map was included in a French encyclopedia titled Nouvelles Annales des Voyages et des sciences géographiques…, from the Paris publisher Bertrand; and it appeared in Winsor in 1884 which is the image here. The map is shown in Johnson (1974) along with the title page from the book.
	1702.2 NOVA SVECIAE TABULA, ex Nic.Visscheri Del, in Tomas Campanius, Kort Beskrifning om Provincien nya Swerige, Stockholm, S. Wankijfsankia 1702. This map was extracted from a larger Visscher map as the imprimatur indicates. The image shown here is from Winsor, also shown in Egle and Johnson (1974). The map was made to show the location of Swedish settlements on the Delaware. It was published in the same volume as the Lindstrom/Campanius map mentioned above. See Egle, Phillips page 670, 671.
	1702.3 VIRGINIAE N. ANGLIAE N. HOLLANDIAE NEC NON NOVAE SVECIAE DELINEATIO. T.C.H. SC. (McCorkle #702.4). This map also appears in Campanius' Kort Beskrifning om Provincien nya Swerige. It shows the east coast from Maine to Carolina and west to include Lake Ontario. Philadelphia is named, but not Pennsylvania, in an area called Nova Svecia. This image is from Winsor.
	1702.4 LE CANADA, OU NOUVELLE FRANCE, LA FLORIDA, LA VIRGINIE, PENSILVANIE, CAROLINE, NOUVELLE ANGLETERRE ET NOUVELLE YORCK, L'ISLE DE TERRE NEUVE, LA LOUSISIANE ET LE COURS DE LA RIVIERE DE MISISIPI. par N. de Fer from his Atlas Curieux, Paris 17o2 and later (McCorkle #702.2, 705.2). The 1705 version of this map can be seen at Pugsley Maps from McGill University.
	1702.5 A CHART OF THE SEA COAST OF NEW FOUND LAND, NEW SCOTLAND, NEW ENGLAND, NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY, WITH VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. Sold by Richd. Mount & Tho: Page at eh Postern on Great Tower hill in London. This map is from the 1702 Atlas Maritimus Novus by Mount and Page, who took over the publishing from Thornton and Fisher of both the Atlas and the English Pilot. This is a revised version of the 1689 map of similar name. Verner notes three states up to 1745 and two more plates up to 1794.
	1702.6 CARTE DE LA NOUVELLE FRANCE OU EST COMPRIS LA NOUVELLE ANGLETERRE NOUVELLE YORC NOUVELLE ALBANIE NOUVELLE SUEDE LA PENSILVANIE LA VIRGINIE, LA FORIDE..., by Jean Baptiste Franquelin. This parchment manuscript map is listed by the National Archives of Canada and dated circa 1702 to 1711.
	1703.1 CARTE DU CANADA OU DE LA NOUVELLE FRANCE ET DES DECOUVERTES QUI Y ONT ETE FAITES..., by Guillaume Del'Isle. Pennsylvania and Philadelphia just make it onto the bottom of this French map of Canada reproduced in color in Portinaro & Knirsch and dated 1703 (McCorkle #703.5,745.2). The small scale map depicts the French explorations around the Great Lakes. This image is from the National Archives of Canada and the map can also be seen at Pugsley Maps from McGill University, where a 1719 Chatelain version with the same title is also shown.
	1703.2 CARTE GENERALE DU CANADA EN PETIT POINT, by Louis Armand, Baron de Lahontan, from his Nouveaux voyages de Mr. le Baron de La Hontan, The Hague 1703 and later (McCorkle #703.4, 709.1). McCorkle describes four versions and shows 7 states of this map indicating how popular these voyages were. Although Pennsylvania just makes it onto the bottom of the map, it is not named. Image courtesy of Ron Dietz.
	1703.3 CARTE GENERALE DE CANADA, by Louis Armand, Baron de Lahontan, from his Nouveaux voyages de Mr. le Baron de La Hontan, 1703 and later (McCorkle #703.2). This is a larger map than the one above with more detail, though Pennsylvania is not named. McCorkle identifies four different plates and a still larger version (#703.3) used in various editions of the voyages. This image is taken from Winsor.
	1703.4 A GENERAL MAP OF NEW FRANCE, COM. CALL'D CANADA, is Herman Moll's version of Lahontan's map (McCorkle #703.6) for an English edition of Lahontan's New Voyages to North America. Here Pennsylvania is at least named, and some of the incorrect geography of the French maps corrected.
	1703.5 VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. This unattributed map is reproduced in Papenfuse & Coale dated 1703?. It is derived from the 1673 Hermann map and resembles maps by John Thornton. It shows the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay region and includes southeastern Pennsylvania. Bucks, Philadelphia, and Chester counties are identified.
	1704.1 CARTE UN TRES GRAND PAIS NOUVELLEMENT DECOUVERT DANS L'AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE ENTRE LE NOUVEAU MEXIQUE by Pieter Van der Aa. This is the Van der Aa version of the 1697 Hennepin map of the same title (McCorkle #704.4). It was included in the 1704 edition of Nouvelle decouverte d'un tres grand pays situe dans l'Amerique. Louis Hennepin was a priest who accompanied La Salle on his explorations of the Great Lakes and who produced several maps and many tales of his exploits, not all true apparently, see Fite & Freeman. Pennsylvania cannot be seen at this scale but the map demonstrates French knowledge of the interior. The Hennepin map can be seen at the Hargrett Library Rare Map Collection - Colonial America. Image from the Heritage Map Museum CD by permission.
	1704.2 (Chester County) This surveyor's manuscript map shows the survey of five contiguous properties in Chester County. Similar to many others from the eighteenth century, this map is included here as an example because it is reproduced on page 24 in Munger.
	1705.1 BATAVORUM COLONIAE OCCIDENT: INDIIS SEPTENTRIONALIS AMERICAE IMPLANTATAE, by Johanne Baptiste Homann, Nuremberg 1705. A small map of the northeast that is an inset into a larger map of the Netherlands titled BELGII PARS SEPTENTRIONALIS COMMUNI NOMINE... which Lister dates as circa 1720. Pennsylvania and Philadelphia are named. McCorkle (#715.2) illustrates a later version of this map published by Peter Schenk.
	1706.1 A NEW MAPP OF EAST AND WEST NEW JARSEY BEING AN EXACT SURVEY TAKEN BY MR JOHN WORLIDGE, by John Thornton Hydrographer at the signe of England, Scotland and Ireland in the Minories. London. This map dated circa 1702-1707 appears in Mercator Society Publication One on English maps and is from the Composite Atlas by Samuel Thornton, John's son. The entire Delaware River is shown with settlements on the Pennsylvania side named, which can be seen in this closeup. This image is from the Library of Congress where the map is dated 1706. Burden #752 dates the map circa 1698 giving reasons.
	1707.1 JONATHAN DICKENSON RAMSPOEDIGE REYSTOGT VAN JAMAIKA NA PENSYLVANIA NAGESPOORD. Uytgevoerd te Leyden door Pieter Vander Aa met Privilegie. Jonathan Dickenson. From: van der Aa ... Reysen Na Oost en West-Indien ... Leiden, 1707. This weird map, with north at the left, can be seen at MapForum.Com, in the issue 7 checklist; and also in Cumming et al Exploration of North America Plate 144. The location of Pennsylvania is shown, nothing else. The map includes the Caribbean islands and so would be outside consideration here but for Pennsylvania in the title. The Dickensons sailed from Jamaica and were wrecked in a storm and captured by Indians in Florida. They eventually made it to Philadelphia and the story was one of the most popular Indian capture tales of the time. This same map also appeared in Zee-en Landreizen der Portuguezen, Spanjaarden, Engelsen, en allerhande natien: zoo van Fransen, Italianeen, Deenen, Hoogh-en Nederduitsen Als van veele andere Volkeren, Voornaamenlyk ondernomen tot Ondekking van de Oost-en Westindien, Midgaders andere Verafgelegene Geweften des Aardryks, written by Johan Lodewyk Gottfried and published in 'sGravenhage MDCCXXVII (1727).
	1707.2 D'ENGELZE VOLKPLANTING IN VIRGINIE DOOR IOHAN SMITH..., by Peter van der Aa, Leiden 1707. This small map is not a Smith derivative and has north at the top. It covers the area from Chesapeake Bay north to Long Island and west to the Susquehanna. Pennsylvania and Philadelphia are not named but Swedish and Dutch settlements along the Delaware are indicated, so the map has been copied from a pre-1681 original. The title cartouche shows John Smith with Indians, and the map is from Naaukeurige Versameling der Gedenk-Waardigste Zee en Land-Reysen. McCorkle (#707.2) illustrates the companion map to this showing New England. Another version was published in 1714 in Atlas nouveau et curieux by van der Aa, which is the image shown here. It differs from the 1707 map by having an elaborate printed border and wording along the bottom in French which reads in part "Peuplade des Anglais dan la Virginie, visitee et augmentee’ par John Smith suivant quil la de’crite lui-meme dans son Voyage ...." Thus the original 1707 map is in Dutch from a Dutch publication, and the 1714 version has a French note at bottom and is from a French atlas. Longitude east from Ferro, blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 52 miles. Size: 9 x 11.5 inches without the border.
	1708.1 NEW ENGLAND, NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY, AND PENSILVANIA & C. by H. Moll Geographer, Vol. 1 page 25. This map by Herman Moll was published in the first edition of John Oldmixon's The British Empire in North America..., London: printed for John Nicholson 1708 (McCorkle #708.1). Another edition appeared in 1741; and there was also a Dutch edition published in 1721 Het Britannische Ryk in Amerika... . Bucks, Chester, and Philadelphia counties are identified in Pennsylvania and were the founding counties of the state. At the lower right is a list of 19 towns for which only a letter was placed on the map. The Delaware separation from Pennsylvania (1704) is not shown. Longitude is measured east from the Ferro meridian which passes through the Canary Islands. This prime meridian originated with Claudius Ptolemy for whom it was the edge of the known world. A similarly named map appeared in Moll's Atlas Minor c1729; also c1736 per Phillips, page 671. The many states of this map are discussed at MapForum.Com, Issue 15. Moll was German, but all his mapmaking was done in England, and he was the most prolific map publisher of the time. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 42 miles. Size: 8 x 12 inches.
	1708.2 A NEW MAP OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND by H. Moll Geographer. This map of the Chesapeake by Moll also comes from the Oldmixon book and includes a strip of southeastern Pennsylvania outlined to include the eastern half of the Delmarva penninsula that became Delaware. The state is named but nothing is identified. This map, like the one above, had several versions up to circa 1740. A late version titled just VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND is shown in Stephenson & McKee, but includes little of Pennsylvania and ends short of the 40th parallel. The earlier map extends slightly above the parallel and includes more of the state. This can be seen in side by side versions shown in Papenfuse & Coale. Listed in Phillips, page 980.
	1709.1 GENERAL=CARTE VON CANADA, a German edition of the Lahontan map of 1703 published in Hamburg and Leipzig in 1709 and 1711 (McCorkle #709.1)

Back to Top

Copyright 2000-2008 by Harold Cramer. All rights reserved.
Last revised: December 15, 2007.