EXHIBITION THE ENGLISH MAPPING SCENE Maps are among the oldest of the graphic arts. They may have evolved from cave art illustrating hunting grounds and holy sites, to early Babylonian maps on clay, to ancient Egyptian property maps of the Nile's annually flooded fields. Mapping in England, in some detail, probably dates from the 13th century, with maps drawn by Matthew Paris, a Benedictine monk. In the 14th century, the so-called Gough map, named after its discoverer, delineated with some accuracy road distances, walled and unwalled towns, ecclesiastical sites, and forests. Property surveys first appeared in England at about the same time. Christopher Saxton created a massive 21-sheet map of England at a scale of 8 miles to the inch in 1583. Coastal pilot books and nautical charts of English shores, the Channel, and beyond blossomed with the "Thames" school of manuscript chart makers in the 1600s.As London's port grew in world importance, its corps of cartographic technicians developed. With Henry VIII's bold move toward independence from continental Europe, and the publication in 1589 of Richard Hakluyt's Diverse Voyages touching the Discovery of America and the Islands adjacent, England's vision expanded to include possible direct trade routes to the riches of Asia and, later, to colonies in North America and the Indies. Maps and charts provided a visual means of recording, understanding, and controlling this worldwide empire. Many features of the maps in this exhibition are defined
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COLLECTOR'S CABINET I: THE DUTCH IMPERATIVE The four Dutch maps in this section were originally plates found in Willem Blaeu's multi-volume Atlas Major. Map collectors seek out these continental maps, and they are almost stereotypes of the collectible map. But that is not to dismiss their beauty or their content. These maps, with their illustrations of various singular costumed personages from around the world, are known as cartes à figure, and are remarkably respectful representations of the many varied peoples well beyond most Europeans' realm of experience. In addition, the maps are decorated with tiny views of international cities, known to Europeans from the many published collections of "voyages" - popular reading material in the 17th and 18th centuries. Many features of the maps in this exhibition are defined
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NAVIGATION AND ENGLISH CHARTING The earliest nautical sailing directions were oral instructions passed from pilot to pilot (a specialist in local waters, who guides visiting boats through them). These instructions developed into written descriptions of coastal navigation, from which evolved beautiful portolan charts, painted and drawn on vellum. In 1584-85, Lucas Waghenaer pulled this tradition together in the text, views, and hydrographic charts of his Spieghel der Zeevaerdt. Translated into English in 1588, The Mariner's Mirrour was the model for much of the nautical mapping and charting on display here. A century later, John Seller expanded the idea of the "waggoner," as Waghenaer's atlas was familiarly known among sailors, into his English Pilot series, which instigated a century of privately published nautical charting based in London. Early English charting was heavily borrowed, if not directly copied, from the Dutch masters. By the 1770s, however, the glorious Atlantic Neptune charts of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of America bowed to no nation in the skill of their presentation. In the 19th century, William Heather's privately published charts shared the market with British Admiralty charts, while Edmund Blunt updated American coastal charting with his American pilot, which was superseded eventually by U.S. Coast Survey charts and pilots. Many features of the maps in this exhibition are defined
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BERMUDA AND THE TROPICAL COLONIES The term "plantation" evolved from a synonym for "colony" and hardened into a term describing an aggressive agricultural system based on slavery. In the Caribbean islands and the southern colonies, sugar, rice, and indigo were produced by slave labor to meet the rising demand for these exotic consumer goods. England grew rich on privateering, sugar cane, salt, and slavery in the West Indies. The southern colonies of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas were a zone of contention between England and Spain because their tropical climates made them ideal for rice and indigo production. In addition, timber for shipbuilding and repair was another important product along these coasts. Ocean winds and currents determined an annual sailing cycle for any one ship from England to the Caribbean - perhaps with biscuit, cider, and cloth. Weeks later, that same boat might head north to Virginia with a cargo of rum, sugar, and molasses. Still later, it might be convoyed back to England under protection of the Royal Navy, with a cargo of tobacco. Bermuda was an important waystation between England, North America, and the West Indies. Discovered by the Spanish in 1515, Bermuda was settled only after George Somers and his crew were shipwrecked there in 1609, perhaps inspiring Shakespeare's last play, produced in 1611, The Tempest. Many features of the maps in this exhibition are defined
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THE TOBACCO COAST: THE CHESAPEAKE COLONIES Unlike New England, the middle colonies along the Chesapeake were multicultural havens for Germans, Dutch, Swedes, Welsh, English, and others, who came to the area to work and start new lives. Many came as indentured servants. Most were disappointed when the promise of life in a garden of plenty was not immediately fulfilled. Hard work for most, and wealth for a few, was the story here. Settled for commercial purposes, the Chesapeake yielded tons of tobacco from 1616 on, greatly enriching the Scottish merchants who controlled this trade for decades. Aggressive agricultural expansion of the tobacco industry onto Native American lands invited conflict very early. In the early 1600s, the golden weed was transported at a rate of over a million pounds a year. By the 1660s, that had grown to 15 million pounds of tobacco, and by 1771-75, over 100 million pounds were exported annually. Much of this tobacco was destined for the Amsterdam tobacco markets; by the 18th century, much of it was headed to France for final sale. John Smith, in his earliest mapping of the Chesapeake area, incorporated much Native American information into his maps, including word of the "Great South Sea" (perhaps the Great Lakes), just a few days' march to the West. The Northwest Passage was thought to be in the area, probably a confusion of Native American information about inland seas, or a misinterpretation of early maps of Pamlico Sound. Many features of the maps in this exhibition are defined
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COLLECTOR'S CABINET II: A MISCELLANY Italian mapping was at its height in the 16th century. Coronelli and Ruscelli well represent the scientific and technical strengths of Italian mapmakers' work; nothing so detailed, decorative, and finely engraved as these globe gores was to be seen in England. The two English maps in this section, with their bright color, reflect religious and educational mapping, as distinct from the nautical charting presented elsewhere in this exhibit.
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THE NORTHEAST COLONIES The New England colonies had been settled by a relatively uniform group of religiously motivated individuals who sought these barren, unsettled lands for the isolation and control they offered. No competing Anglican or Catholic congregations, or commercial companies, were around to sully the pure spiritual establishment of towns and villages scattered along the coasts and river valleys. And the population of New England was never great - Barbados had more inhabitants than all of New England in the 18th century. Unlike the Chesapeake and Southern colonies, and the West Indies, the northeast was a more urban area, with shorelines dotted with centers for shipping, trade, and commerce. Philadelphia, New York, and Boston were strong, active ports, filled with consumers, financiers, and traders of goods. Many features of the maps in this exhibition are defined
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THE CONTINENTAL VIEW These small-scale maps of the North American continent in this section reveal, over time, a gradually increasing knowledge of the interior, beyond the Appalachians, up and down and across the Mississippi. More than just maps, however, these were propagandistic tools, weapons in cartographic warfare, most especially between France and England as they battled for control of the American interior. The selection presented here provides an overview of conflicting French, English, and Spanish claims in America. Many features of the maps in this exhibition are defined
on the page called
FROM COLONY TO CAPITAL François-Alexandre Rochefoucault Liancourt traveled over much of the eastern United States researching the development of prisons in the U.S. for his French backers. While in the Washington area, he reported on the plans for the new capital. His text provides a revealing accompaniment to several rare maps, including one by Andrew Ellicott of the "10-mile-square" area within which the new city was to be built. The maps in this section are complemented by the first road atlas of the United States; a map showing the first added territory of the new nation; and one of the first maps to be published after the 1783 Peace of Paris, naming the United States of America. Many features of the maps in this exhibition are defined
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TREASURES A highlight of the Lawrence H. Slaughter Collection is a pair of 18th century library globes, approximately 15" in diameter, and mounted in fabulous clawfoot bases. Many features of the maps in this exhibition are defined
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EPO, 1998
