1775 A New Map of North America, agreeable to the most approved Maps and Charts.

This interesting map by British mapmaker Thomas Conder was published in London right at the time that the American War of Independence was becoming serious. It depicts most of North America and part of Central America, with the British Colonies of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and East and West Florida (combined), extending as far west as the Mississippi River. Pennsylvania is truncated, with a portion of it extending just a bit to the west of western New York. California is rendered rather faithfully to its true geographic form, as the idea of its being an island had finally lost favour. The northwest coast of the continent is still called New Albion, as it had been named by Sir Francis Drake centuries earlier, with the inner reaches of western Canada labeled ‘These Parts Are Intirely Unknown’. Major river systems and some mountainous areas are included. The Great Lakes, Hudson’s Bay and Baffin’s Bay are all depicted as are names of regions and provinces. Many names of indigenous peoples are denoted. The discoveries of a number of early explorers are named and a number of forts, settlements and cities, though far from all, are included in the map.