Two plates, as printed
1755 beside c. 1650
Nothing is redrawn. Each column is what that sheet actually shows. Read both records before deciding they rhyme.
1755
Map of the British and French Dominions in North America
John Mitchell; engraved by Thomas Kitchin
Period original
What this plate depicts
A claims map of eastern North America: British and French dominions, roads, distances, limits, and extent of settlements, inscribed to the Earl of Halifax and the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations. Native nations appear as names inside imperial geography. The west coast of the continent is outside this sheet’s job. This is colonial jurisdiction as London printed it in 1755, not a Native-authored map of nations.
- Source
- Library of Congress; published for Jefferys and Faden, London, 13 February 1755.
- License
- Public domain.
c. 1650
California as an island
Joan Vinckeboons (Johannes Vingboons)
Period original
What this plate depicts
California is drawn as a large, carrot-shaped island off western North America, separated by a gulf labeled as a sea. Coastal names, bays, and islands are written on the island’s Pacific face. The mainland to the east is a separate mass. This is what the plate actually claims: an insular California, not a peninsula. The depiction circulated on European maps for about a century after Spanish coastal reconnaissance had already found Baja attached.
- Source
- Library of Congress; Wikimedia Commons scan of the c. 1650 manuscript.
- License
- Public domain.