Tag Archives: 18th century

1780s: Canada Is Shaping Up

Map of the Atlantic Canada, 1785.

The map covers the territory of what is today Atlantic Canada. In 1785, they were the British Colonies of Newfoundland, St. John’s Island (today called Prince Edward Island), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick (which split from Nova Scotia in 1784).

This map was released just eighteen years after Captain James Cook surveyed and mapped the area between 1763 and 1767. This was his second trip to the region; he first arrived as a soldier of the British Crown in 1757–1758 where he participated in the Siege of Quebec during this military expedition.

In 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed and the United States officially recognized as an independent country by the British and other signatories. The Treaty also laid out how the borders would be charted in the area and granted fishing rights to the American fishermen in Atlantic Canada. Quebec was also a British colony at that time. However, after the arrival of 10,000 loyalists from the newly founded USA in 1791, the province of Quebec was divided into Lower Canada: a predominantly French-speaking region downriver of St. Lawrence River covering the south-eastern part of modern-day Quebec and areas on the Labrador peninsula that are nowadays part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Upper Canada, a predominantly English-speaking region upriver of St. Lawrence covering what is the southern part of the modern-day Province of Ontario.

“Ann and Seamus”, a historical novel by Kevin Major set in Newfoundland about 40 years after this map was first printed narrates a story of Irish immigrants who were shipwrecked on the shore of the island when on their way to Quebec.

Buy restored reproduction of this map printed on a high quality handmade paper here.

Queen Nanny – the Moroon Movement in Jamaica

Map of the Central America, 1720.

In the 18th century, colonialism and its consequences had fully hit the West Indies with the British, the Dutch, the Spanish and the French carving up the territories in the Caribbean between themselves. Noteworthy events took place in Jamaica around the time this map was released. Between 1655 and 1670, the British took over the control of the island from the Spanish. In this transition period, many former slaves escaped slavery and established free communities inland. They gradually took control over large areas of the Jamaican inland and organised regular raids on the plantations. Conflicts with the British administration followed, known as the First and Second Maroon wars. One of the leaders of the Maroon movement was Queen Nanny. She was born in what is today Ghana, West Africa. After being sold as a slave, she was transported to Jamaica to work on a sugarcane plantation, which was a booming industry in the West Indies around that time. After escaping from the plantation, she founded a Maroon settlement in the mountains called Nanny Town. She was responsible for successfully defending the settlement against the British Army. Thus, she became one of the earliest leaders of slave resistance in the West Indies.

To learn more about Queen Nanny, read Karla Gottlieb’s: “The Mother of Us All: A History of Queen Nanny, Leader of the Windward Jamaican Maroons”.

Buy restored reproduction of this map printed on a high quality handmade paper here.

The Special Status of the Isle of Man

Map of the Ilse of Man and the Adjoining Coasts of of Wales, England and Scotland, 1740.

This map is oriented to the west at the top of the map. Until today, the Isle of Man has enjoyed a special relationship with Great Britain. It is not part of the United Kingdom nor is it part of the European Union. Officially, it is a Crown dependency. The Lord of Mann was the titular ruler of the island until 1765, i.e. 25 years after this map was released. In 1765, the Government of the Kingdom of Great Britain purchased the rights of the ruling Atholl family as Lords of Mann including the customs revenues of the Island for the sum of £70,000. Today, the Queen still holds the title Lord of Mann.

Buy restored reproduction of this map printed on a high quality handmade paper here.

The Maltese Falcon Story

Map of Malta and Gozo, 1734.

Malta and Gozo were ruled by the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem between 1530 and 1798. After being expelled from its previous base in Rhodes, the Order was given Malta and Gozo together with the North-African town of Tripoli in 1530 as a gift by Emperor Charles V., the King of Sicily. In exchange, the Order had to follow conditions laid down by the King and pay an annual fee of a single Maltese falcon. This tradition persisted throughout the whole period of Malta under the Order of Saint John.

An illustrated book “Knights of Malta, 1523-1798” by Reuben Cohen describes the full history of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem and its influence on European events.

Buy restored reproduction of this map printed on a high quality handmade paper here.

Hevelius and His Research of the Moon’s Surface

Map of the Surface of the Moon, 1710.

Published under the official title: Tabula Selenographica. Selenography is a scientific discipline focused on the mapping of the Moon’s surface. This map from the early 18th century is derived from the works of two scientists who stood at the beginning of the modern-era survey of the Moon: Giovanni Battista Riccioli (1598-1671), an Italian astronomer who established a system of lunar nomenclature still used today, and the German-Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687).

Hevelius (in Polish Jan Heweliusz), originally from Gdansk and the son of wealthy brewers, was given an excellent education at the University of Leiden. After finishing his studies, he travelled Europe before returning to his hometown where he worked in the city administration. Besides his civil service, he also focused on astronomy, built his private observatory, and studied the heavens passionately. The Moon became his main interest; in 1647, his first work on lunar topography, called “Selenography”, was published, which gave this scientific discipline its name.

Buy restored reproduction of this map printed on a high quality handmade paper here.

Invention of a Chronometer – a Big Progress in Sea Navigation

Nautical Map of the Atlantic Ocean by the Coast of Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Morocco, 1760

This is a nice example of what are known as portolan charts – navigational maps based on compass directions and estimated distances observed by captains at sea. Portolan maps have one main compass rose in the middle with 16 other compass roses located in a circle around the main rose.

The Age of Discovery peaked with James Cook and his famous voyages in the second half of the 18th century. The biggest problem in sea navigation was solved around this time when the marine chronometer invented by John Harrison enabled the measurement of accurate time and, therefore, accurate longitude at sea. Whereas latitude could be easily determined at sea by measuring the sun’s angle at noon, the measurement of longitude remained a major problem until the 1760s. With the invention of the chronometer, it was possible to accurately measure the time of a known fixed location, for example, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Knowing GMT at local noon allows a navigator to use the time difference between the ship’s position and the Greenwich Meridian to determine the ship’s longitude.

The Royal Greenwich Observatory displays a collection of the first chronometers invented by John Harrison. His life-story is narrated by Kathryn Lasky in her children’s book “The man who made time travel”.

Buy restored reproduction of this map printed on a high quality handmade paper here.