Collection: Osher Sheet Map Collection

Title: A New and Accurate Map of the English Empire in North America: Representing their Rightful Claim as confirmed by Charters, and the formal Surrender of their Indian Friends: Likewise the Encroachments of the French, with the several Forts they have unjustly erected therein. By a Society of Anti-Gallicans.

Barcode: 692

Creator: Sayer, Robert, 1725-1794

Publisher: Herbert, William, Sayer, Robert, 1725-1794

Region Depicted: Eastern U.S. · Eastern Canada · Great Plains · Nova Scotia · North America · Cape Breton Island

Date Produced: 1755

Date Published: 1755

Language: English

Historical Context: The early 1750s were marked by increasingly fierce competition between England and France for control of North American territory and commerce, especially the lucrative fur trading and fishing. Both countries issued proclamations, pamphlets, and maps in support of their conflicting claims, each accusing the other of illegal "encroachments." The French vigorously asserted their sovereignty over the entire watersheds of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi Rivers, including the Great Lakes and Ohio River valley. The British grudgingly conceded only the Canadian regions north of the St. Lawrence River from the Ottawa River ("R. Outaouais") to the Bustard River ("R. Bustard"), the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a narrow strip of the northern coast of Newfoundland, and lands immediately adjacent to French settlements. These areas, described as "French Possessions and Encroachments," are left uncolored on the map. Tensions steadily mounted until 1755, when the "map wars" gave way to bloody armed conflict: The French and Indian War. This map, made after the onset of hostilities, is perhaps the most blatant of the British propaganda maps. The issuers, a "Society of Anti-Gallicans," make no pretense of impartiality, and present an aggressive and overtly partisan statement of British territorial claims. The title of the map describes the British position as a "Rightful claim as confirm'd by Charters," and refers to the "Encroachment of the French, with the several Forts they have unjustly erected" [emphasis added]. Inscriptions and colored lines define exaggerated British claims which are, in fact, "encroachments" on New France!

Subjects: East (U.S.) · Canada, Eastern · Great Plains · Colonial America · Propaganda

Map Type: Geographical

Dimensions: 44 X 81 cm.

Printing Process: Engraving

Printing Technique: Copper

Material Type: Paper

Brief Description: Map of the eastern half of North America. Includes six insets showing detailed maps of forts, towns, and areas claimed or built by the French, and a map of the Atlantic Ocean.

Physical Description: Hand-applied full color

Insets: Plan of the Town of Quebeck, A Plan of the Harbour and Town of Louisbourg on the Isle of Cape Briton, A Plan of the Harbour of Annopolis Royal, A Plan of Chebucto Harbour, A Plan of Port Dauphin on the Isle of Cape Briton, Atlantic Ocean, Fort Frederick Built by the French at Crown or Scalp Point in the Year 1731

Theme: From Colonies to Local Control: Mapping North America, 1494 to 1867

Collection/Donor: Osher

Permanent URL: https://oshermaps.org/map/692.0001