Early Maps That Shape America

Maps dictate the way early settlers viewed the world. Analysing old maps sheds light on the Discourse of the pre-national days of the USA.

1st map:
A New Description of Carolina
By John Speed

http://hmap.libs.uga.edu/hmap/view?docId=hmap/hmap1676s6.xml;query=;brand=default

1) This map is a very interesting map because of the orientation of it. North faces in the direction most modern maps have east. Being from 1676 there are some notable differences from our current maps; however, the map is surprisingly accurate. The Appalachian Mountains are a notable improvement from other maps I looked at. In A New Description of Carolina they are relatively close to their actual location. If we zoom in very close to what appears to be a road, we can see people carrying something. Only one person is different from the rest, which is interesting. We can also see fortified villages and towns that the people are traveling to and from. There is only one animal that I can make out, and that is a male deer drawn very small in the middle of some open land. The angle on the map description is holding a fishing rod, and I think that the people walking were carrying fishing rods as well. There is also a dot that would be used to show a village, without a name. Only one, every other dot has a name.

2) This map portrays America as a relatively open land, occupied by very little to nothing at all. The mapmaker illustrated the openness by putting in a large savanna just before the mountains. In other maps of this area, we can see the native people or animals, but not in this piece. It gives a sense that they were just utilizing an open area that nobody else was using. This provides a false sense of righteousness in the "manifest destiny" mindset of the time period. It is interesting compared to other maps, because it does not show any inclination that the land shown was ever inhabited by anyone other than Europeans.