Canada – Guillaume De L’Isle, Covens & Mortier, ca. 1730

MAP OF CANADA OR NEW FRANCE AND THE DISCOVERIES MADE THERE

“Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France et des Decouvertes qui y été faites. “ Made by Guillaume de L’Isle and published by Johannes Covens and Cornelis Mortier in Amsterdam around 1730. Coloured by a later hand. Size: 49 x 57 cm.

This influential map by Guillaume de L’Isle (1675–1726), first published in 1703, was exceptional for its accuracy. It was the first printed map to show the entire Great Lakes system correctly, as well as the relative positions of the lakes to Hudson Bay. The Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland is depicted more realistically than in earlier maps. These corrections marked a significant step forward in European understanding of North American geography.

The map is also notable for its early inclusion of Detroit, founded in 1701 by French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. The village, named Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, was established as a strategic outpost between Lakes Erie and Huron. De L’Isle included it on the map within just two years of its founding, demonstrating how quickly new settlements were incorporated into contemporary cartography.

In the western part of the continent, the map features the “Rivière longue”, a speculative waterway flowing westward to a distant mountain range. This idea came from the writings of Baron de Lahontan, who compiled Indigenous oral reports of a great river and high mountains beyond. While Lahontan’s Rivière longue proved mythical, the reference to and depiction of a mountain range here is believed to be the first depiction of the Rocky Mountains on a printed map.

Further north, Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay, and the surrounding Arctic coasts appear with noticeable gaps, reflecting the uncertainties of the time. De L’Isle includes references to navigators like John Davis and William Baffin, whose 16th- and early 17th-century voyages charted the coastlines of Greenland, Labrador, and the entrance to Hudson Strait. Their explorations, driven by the search for a Northwest Passage, continued to shape geographic speculation well into the 18th century.

The map also reveals much about the cultural and political context of the time. De L’Isle, who worked at the French Ministry of the Marine, had access to detailed missionary reports and Indigenous accounts. Many Indigenous place names and settlements appear throughout the map, offering a rare European acknowledgment of Native presence and knowledge.

In the ornate cartouche at the upper left, indigenous life and European religious conversion are both depicted: scenes of hunting and warfare stand alongside baptisms and missionary activity. A beaver and a goose—symbols of both the natural environment and colonial trade—flank the scale bars, underscoring the intertwined themes of exploration, exploitation, and empire.

This map stands as one of the most important cartographic documents of 18th-century Canada and the broader North American interior. It exemplifies how maps were not only tools of navigation, but also visual records of encounter, ambition, and imagination.

Price: Euro 1.450,-