• Joseph Bouchette, copiste

    Alban Berson Il arrive fréquemment qu’un particulier attire l’attention d’une bibliothèque patrimoniale sur un document ancien qu’il détient. Cette personne s’est procurée d’une façon ou d’une autre un livre, une carte géographique ou encore un manuscrit, et serait disposée à s’en départir en faveur de la bibliothèque. Il convient alors d’en évaluer les valeurs patrimoniale… Continue Reading

  • Cabotia and Fredonia

    Amanda Murphyao [This is the ninth essay of the Borealia series on Cartography and Empire–on the many ways maps were employed in the contested imperial spaces of early modern North America.] In his 1814 “Map of Cabotia,” John Purdy proposed the name “Cabotia” for Canada. Since Purdy noted that any “future improvement” for the map would be welcome,… Continue Reading

  • Colonizing St. John Island: A History in Maps

    S. Max Edelson [This is the eighth essay of the Borealia series on Cartography and Empire–on the many ways maps were employed in the contested imperial spaces of early modern North America.] This essay examines the Board of Trade’s survey and plan for St. John Island (renamed Prince Edward in 1798). It is part of a larger study… Continue Reading

  • Mapping the End of Empire

    Jeffers Lennox [This is the seventh essay of the Borealia series on Cartography and Empire–on the many ways maps were employed in the contested imperial spaces of early modern North America.] If we accept the argument that maps helped create and resist empires (and we should, or else I’ve just wasted a decade of my life), we should… Continue Reading

  • Absence Makes the Art. Go Ponder.

    [This is the sixth essay of the Borealia series on Cartography and Empire–on the many ways maps were employed in the contested imperial spaces of early modern North America.]  Alan MacEachern The following post may not suit a scholarly discussion on cartography and empire. You’ve been warned. Here be dragons, and all that. This summer, I curated… Continue Reading

  • L’île aux démons: cartographie d’un mirage

    [This is the fifith essay of the Borealia series on Cartography and Empire–on the many ways maps were employed in the contested imperial spaces of early modern North America.]  Alban Berson On serait bien en peine de pointer sur une carte d’aujourd’hui un vaste archipel ou une île imposante au Nord de Terre-Neuve, sur la côte du… Continue Reading

  • Early-Modern Place Names in Today’s Canada

    [This is the third essay of the Borealia series on Cartography and Empire–on the many ways maps were employed in the contested imperial spaces of early modern North America.]  Lauren Beck The Geographic Names Board of Canada (GNBC) provides scholars with a database of place names that allows users to look up the location of a place name,… Continue Reading

  • La cartographie des routes impériales françaises: le cas du fleuve Saint-Laurent au XVIIIe siècle

    Çà et là, l’historiographie a rappelé le rôle singulier de la cartographie pratiquée dans un contexte colonial : offrir des connaissances géographiques aux dirigeants qui souhaitent asseoir leur emprise sur un territoire étranger. Les cartographes deviennent ainsi des agents bâtisseurs d’empire, déployant leur savoir-faire technique au profit d’un pouvoir impérial et d’un souverain lui-même très limité dans ses déplacements.