Description

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A New Map of Ye North Parts of America

Herman Moll
1711

Contests of Empires
Published in England, this map directly challenged territorial claims made two years earlier on a French map. The mapmaker also used newer information to more accurately depict the Great Lakes.

A French map made two years prior to this one portrayed the British colonies on the east coast as smaller than the British conception of them. This map was in part a response to that earlier one: British holdings are correspondingly enlarged here.

The mapmaker was Herman Moll, a German who came to London in about 1678 and worked as an engraver for other publishers in the city. He soon set up his own business publishing atlases and separate maps of all parts of the world. His work was varied, rangingfrom miniature maps to large very decorative wall maps.

Moll and John Senex (see the next map in this exhibit) were the two most active publishers of maps of America. Their maps were used widely in the English colonies in America.