Historic Map : Janvier Map of North America (Sea of The West), 1762, Vintage Wall Art

An altogether fascinating map of North America by Jean Janvier dating to 1862. Covers the continent from Panama to the arctic circle, extends westward to include parts of Asia and eastward as far as Iceland. This map, which is heavily influenced by the theoretical mappings of Guillaume de l'Isle and Philippe Buache, went through several states of which this is the first and possibly the most interesting. Javier divides the continent according to the three colonial powers that controlled it, with England controlling the colonies along the east coast, France occupying Canada and Louisiana, and Spain dominating Mexico, Florida, Cuba and Central America. By far the most interesting aspects of this map deal with Janvier's treatment of the largely unexplored Pacific Northwest. A magnificent sea, called the Sea of the West or in this case the Baye de L'Ouest, occupies the greater part of the northwestern part of the continent. Most specifically the explorations of Verenrye with regard to the discovery of the Lake of the Woods (L. Des Bois) and Lake Winnipeg (L. Ouinipigon), both of which appear on this map. Further north we can find traces of Admiral de Fonte's apocryphal discovery of a passage from the Pacific (starting at the Archipel St. Lazare) eastward via a network of lakes and rivers to Baffin Bay. The De Fonte legend first appeared in a 1706 English publication entitled "Memoirs of the Curious". This mass most likely stems from Tschirikow sightings of the Aleutian Islands and the assumption that they may have been joined. On the opposite side of the map, Janvier places the Great Lakes firmly within French territory, a clear case of carto-advocacy. The English colonies, outlined in red are only vaguely accurate with regard to their borders with Pennsylvania and New Jersey extending north to the Canadian border.