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The Discovery and Cartographic

Development of Newfoundland

and its Environs 1497-1500 -1769

Henry Harrisse

Translated by Aspi Balsara

Centre for Newfoundland Studies

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Translation copyright c> 2007 by the Centre for Newfoundland Studies,

Memorial University of Newfoundland. No reproduction permitted.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Harrisse, Henry, 1829-1910.

The discovery and cartographic development of Newfoundland and

its environs, 1497-1500-1769/ Henry Harrisse ; translated by Aspi Balsara.

Translation of the article: Decouverte et evolution cartographique de

Terre-Neuve et des pays circonvoisins, 1497-1500-1769, published

in Rewe de geographie, vol. 47(6), December 1900.

ISBN 978-0-88901-387-2

1. Newfoundland and Labrador-Discovery and exploration.

2. Newfoundland and Labrador--Maps. 3. America--Discovery and

exploration. 4. America-Maps. 5. Canada--Discovery and exploration.

6. Canada--Maps. 7. Cartography. I. Balsara, Aspi II. Memorial University

of Newfoundland. Centre for Newfoundland Studies ill. Title.

FC2161.6.H355132007 970.01 C2007-900224-2

>

Translator's introduction and acknowledgments

This booklet is a translation of a periodical article:

Harrisse, Henry. "Decouverte et evolution cartographique de

Terre-Neuve et des pays circonvoisins, 1497 - 1500 - 1769." Revue de geographie 47, no. 6 (December 1900): 401- 414.

I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Michael Wilkshire, Honorary Research Professor

of Memorial University's Department of French and Spanish, for reviewing my initial draft. He is a noted translator of Newfoundland related teXts from French to English, and his help

was indispensable.

Mr. Aspi Balsara Queen Elizabeth II Library Memorial University of Newfoundland

September 2006

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The Discovery and Cartographic Development of Newfoundland and its Environs

1497 - 1500 - 17691.

The major findings from all objective investigations into the discovery and cartographic evolution of Newfoundland and its surrounding regions can be summarized as follows, given what we know of the historical record:

Contrary to widespread opinion, 15th century navigators (including even Christopher Columbus) were soon convinced that the new world was not Cathay but a vast land hitherto unknown and separate from Asia.

This geographic construct can be traced as far back as 1498.

1. While Henry Harrisse's fine book is issued by the reputable Parisian publishing house of Welter, it is in this compendium, Revue de GeograplUe that he chose it to first appear in print. His methodology is

succinctly described in the pre&ce below: "It appears that Geography, regarded as a closely allied discipline of History, should be tackled henceforth with the same rigour and objectivity expected in other fields of scientific endeavour; this should apply to the

study of origins and development. In other words, one cannot just accept any oft-repeated hypothesis, date,

description or overview without ever subjecting it to thorough analysis and preliminary study of all the sources. To put it yet another way, it is important to re~visage and re-partition the globe into segments and subdivisions proportionate to their historical impact. Furthermore, each of these sections should be represented geographically, both as individual units and as part of the collective totality, revealing their disposition as best as the cartographic evidence allows.. One can thereby visualize a chronology of the main

configurations, courses of rivers, sites of towns and harbours for any era, just as the ancient geographers had conceived. Systematic comparative tables of the principal features, derived from original maps as well as maps of varying styles and dates, would complete the picture. Place names and their successive changes should also be recorded, even in their often unintelligible, erroneous versions in which they appear in most documentary sources. Each name, despite its misrepresentation, could serve as a point of Ieference in tracing its origins or determining the linkage between maps and portulan charts. Thus, these elements would

come together in a synthesis, combining analyzed p~ tracing their point of origin, rapport and transfonnation. By this means, one discovers why the historical geography of the new world is riddled with error." This is the method Henry Harrisse applies to his new work and whose effectiveness is demonstrated through

painstaking example.

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z

However, most cartographers did not accept this until later, abandoned it and then took it up

again. It seems the Portuguese were among its most unwavering supporters, and following

their footsteps, the mariners of Dieppe.

The sole pwpose of the English transatlantic expeditions of the 15th and most of the 16th

century was to find the route to Cathay, and time and again they claimed or believed to have

discovered it.

On two occasions, Jean Cabot, the first European since the Norse explorers, visited the

northeast shores of the new continent. The stretch of coastline where he made landfall

remains unknown, nor has it been determined ifhe even spotted the Newfoundland shoreline

in 1497, 1498 or at any other time.

Some clues suggest that in Spring 1497, Cabot landed further south and that he explored

from west to east. Under this hypothesis, he could have encountered Cape Race on the

homeward journey to Bristol.

The map of this voyage that he gave to ambassador Pedro de Ayala proved to be no different

than Juan de la Cosa's.

Far from dying on his second and last voyage, Jean Cabot returned to London by September

24, 1498.

No source corroborates the accounts of Sebastian Cabot's alleged voyages to this part of

America, whether alone or accompanied by his father, for any year, under the flag of

England, Spain or any other power.

The letters patent granted by Henry VII to John Cabot and his sons were tacitly repealed on

March 19, 1501 and were never renewed.

Between March and May 1501, the Bristol shipowners, with their associates in the Azores

and under special authority of Henry VII, set out on avoyage of discovery to North America.

They undertook a second journey by autuDllt'I5l)3. Two English expeditions to these shores

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set sail in 1504 and 1505.

Two of the Azores navigators, Francisco Fernandez and Joio Gonzales, were granted a pension by Hemy VII on December 6, 1503 as a "reward for services rendered to him as captains in the new world."

Yet, the maps, documents and chronicles do not reveal any precise locations visited during any of the four voyages; perhaps one of them recorded the voyage of Johannes Ruysc~ the German geographer who explored the Newfoundland waters before 1506.

In fact, through most of the 16th century, England lost interest in establishing sovereign rights in North America that could have resulted from these expeditions.

During this period, the Tudor reign saw no letters patent, concessions, privileges, edicts, or laws, not even an attempt at colonization and settlement - in effect, a total absence of official initiative from the crown touching upon Newfoundland or its environs.

The three edicts of He my vm, Edward VI and Elizabeth I relating to the marine fishery and held up as an example, dealt exclusively with the need to train sailors, and applied to countries where England had neither rights nor ambitions.

England did not attach any importance to possessing northeast America, nor could she have done so at the time. It is likely she never even considered the new world as belonging to her, or perhaps Cabot's cl~ to possession in 1497 had been forgotten.

Apart from the Arctic region, no known map exists for North America or Newfoundland that was drawn up in 16th century England, using information obtained directly from an English cartographer.

England never even had a Pilot Major or Cheyffe Pylot.

In the period before the Treaty of Utrecht, Newfoundland was of little significance to the English.

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The first declaration by the English of their rights in North America dates no earlier than

1578-1580. Prompted by Elizabeth I, it was accomplished by the farsighted John Dee. He

rested his case on the expeditions of Sebastian Cabot, Thome and Elliot, without overly

concerning himself with the niceties of legal proof. Elizabeth's minister, Lord Burghley,

was less than enthused about the legitimacy of these claims. A half centuty later, Admiral

Sir William Monson absolutely refused to acknowledge them, but his thinking rested on

principles of intemationallaw that were far from the norm when Cabot discovered the new

continent.

As early as 1517, the English lamented and envied the supremacy of the French fishermen

in Newfoundland. They would not capitalize on the Newfoundland fishery until much later,

preferring to frequent the Icelandic waters.

As late as 1591, fishermen from one of the Channel Islands petitioned the authorities in

Saint-Malo to fish for cod in Newfoundland, but permission was denied by the municipal

council.

Nevertheless, the English cod fishery on the Newfoundland coast grew to a point where

surplus catches were shipped directly to Spain and Italy.

Growing Anglo-French rivalry spelled the death knell of the Basque fiShery in the next

century, with the collapse of Saint-Jean-de-Luz that owed its prosperity to none other than

the Newfoundland fishery.

Documentary evidence reveals no European presence in Newfoundland before Gaspar Corte­

Real. In 1500, he crossed the Atlantic from Lisbon, reaching the northenunost extremity of

Newfoundland. But he did not come ashore until his next expedition the following year.

He came ashore in summer 1501, apparently south of the Petit Nord (Great Northern)

Peninsula, between latitude 48°30'N and 49° 30'N, somewhere near Gander or the Exploits

River. It was at one of these rivers1:hat the Portuguese set up their first encampment at a

riverbank one league inland.

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Corte-Real ordered two caravels back to Lisbon. Their captains took back large-scale drawings that are the first known sketches of the island's geographical features. They appear in the world map attributed to Cantino, as well as in Canerio' s map largely copied from Cantino, and all surveys, globes and world maps ofLusitano-Germanic· hydrography up to

the mid-16th century.

Newfoundland was not depicted as an "island" as we know it, nor could it have been referred as such until at least 34 years after its discovery. Until then, Terra Nova meant nothing more than ''Newly found land" - a vague designation for the vast region embracing Labrador, Newfo~dland and Canada. In the 16th century it also went by the general name of Baccalaos or "land of cod" .

A glance at the early Lusitano-Germanic maps shows Newfoundland taking on an island-like shape. However, the west coast remains uncharted as an indication that nobody at the time had ever set eyes on the region.

In spring 1502, Miguel Corte-Real left Lisbon in two or three caravels in search of his brother, Gaspar. The flotilla searched unsuccessfully, with Miguel then persevering alone after ordering one or two ships back to Portugal, probably carrying home much geographic material.

In 1503, King Emmanuel despatched two vessels to find Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real. The ships probably returned with coastal profiles that we believe appear in the King map and the Kunstmann no. n map.

All maps with the designation Te"a de Corte-Real or its equivalent appeared after 1503.

It is on the King map that the legend Terra Cortereal and the name Capo Raso first appear; the latter was sighted and named C. de Portgesi, the Portuguese Cape, by Ruysch, before 1506.

• Translator's note: The adjective "Lusitano" or "Lusitanian" refers to Portuguese derivation.

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The Kunstmann no. II map (copied by an Italian from a Portuguese map) is the first to

bear the designation Te"a de fauorador, written over Greenland.

The name Laborador could have been the surname of J080 Fernandez who accompanied

Pero de Barcellos on the transatlantic voyages of the 15th century. Fernandez appears to have

received letters patent from Henry vn under whose flag the voyage to the new world was

undertaken in 1501.

The first widespread nomenclature of Labrador is exclusively Portuguese and shows up in

the Riccardiana; Dieppe drew its inspiration from this prototype, starting with Desliens in

1541.

The names Padraos and de fa Cruz that crop up in maps reveal places discovered by the

Portuguese.

The Oliveriana, an eclectic Italian ·world map dating from after 1503, shows awareness of

La Cosa' s planisphere and the printed account ofVespucci' s third voyage. It also reveals the

pattern of Newfoundland's southern coast, but derived from a Spanish or Portuguese map

of unknown origin.

The depiction of North America in the Egerton portulan, circa 1506, is a derivative of the

Reinel prototype that in tum reveals delineations going back as far as 1504. These originate

from one of the first Portuguese voyages following the ill-fated Corte-Real expeditions.

Unlike England, Portugal followed up on the discoveries of its countrymen, and always

considered Newfoundland part of its transatlantic possessions for almost a century afterward.

No Tudor monarch is ever known to have contested this claim.

As early as October 14, 1506, the Portuguese government levied duty on Newfoundland fish,

pointing unmistakably to the early growth of the Portuguese fishery in this region.

Throughout the 16th century, many expeditions set out from Portugal and the Azores to fish

for cod and whale, and in search of a northwest passage to Cathay.

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For its part, the Corte-Real family continued to exercise the rights granted by King

Emmanuel that were confirmed and renewed by his successors until at least 1579.

The standard of the Order of Christ appears frequently on Fitzhugh's 1693 map of the

Newfoundland fisheries, thereby revealing that at the end of the 1"" centwy England still

recognized Portuguese rights in the area from Notre Dame Bay in the north and running

southward along 54° W longitude (Greenwich). This is how Portuguese toponymy on the

Newfoundland coast endured even into the present day.

The Nova Scotian coast, the interior of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the waters of southern

Newfoundland were explored by the Portuguese navigator ]010 Alvarez Fagundes before

1521.

The English did not venture into the Gulf of St. Lawrence until the final decade of the 1 £Ih century. They claimed that only the French had permanent settlements in Newfoundland in

the 16th centwy and who alone knew how to splitand stack cod.

Notwithstanding the delineation of the new world's eastern limits in Las Cosa' s planisphere

of 1500 and the stated opinion of early navigators that Newfoundland adjoined Spain's

transatlantic possessions, the initial attempt of the Portuguese navigators to link the two

regions is not evidenced until Kunstmann no. Ill, a map derived from a Lusitanian prototype

other than Cantino.

It is the map prepared by Nicolas Desliens in Dieppe, 1541, where Newfoundland first

appears entirely separate from Labrador.

The Portuguese and English reckoned the passage to Cathay lay northwest of Labrador; the

Spanish placed it between Florida and Newfoundland, and the French at Canada's Saguenay

River. These hypotheses account for the numerous explorations of the North American coast

and the useful cartographic observations resulting from them, but also lead to many

disappointments.

Sebastian Cabot's fanciful outline, claiming to have discovered the famously elusive route

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between 61 - 64 degrees latitude North, was the impetus for Frobisher's expedition in 1576.

In the first Portuguese maps, the oddly compressed shoreline of southern Newfoundland probably arose from concern to avoid encroaching on Spanish territory. In the North American region, the Treaty ofTordesillas left nothing accruing to Portugal anywhere south of 440 30' N and west of 660 Greenwich.

The Oliverianamap seems to link Newfoundland with Nova Scotia or even the area beyond, but is an eclectic concept drawing upon La Cosa and a Portuguese map postdating 1503.

The world map print in the Landau collection originates from Rosellian· prototypes and bears evidence of the geographical notion arising in early 16th century Florence. and Venice that Newfoundland was conjoined to Asia.

Although Ruysch was a geographer and had visited a part of North America, his planispheric map is in no way his original work. It is a Portuguese map whose outline of Newfoundland has simply been embellish~d. Nevertheless, it bears tacit witness to the oldest known maps prepared from an English expedition to the island itself as well as the presence of the Armorican Bretons in the region. Although the map itself was printed in 1508, the rim of the Americas was drawn up prior to July 1506.

The Avalon Peninsula, Placentia Bay and Fortune Bay made their debut in the planisphere of Ottomanno Freducci who followed the example of the Portuguese cartographers for his configuration of Newfoundland.

St. Mary's Bay and a more detailed version of Placentia Bay first appear in the Viegas map.

The Portuguese were the first to record these important features. On the other hand, the Petit Nord Peninsula would remain unknown to them for a long time.

To the Portuguese goes the credit of embarking on the first explorations of Labrador up to

• Translator's note: Referring to the cartographer, Francesco Roselli.

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at least 1541 when Jolo ill no longer granted letters patent to explore this region owing to the high loss rate of Portuguese ships.

Lusitanian nomenclature in Viegas and the Riccardiana demonstrate that the Portuguese navigators, after Fagundes, stood second to none on the northeast and southwest coasts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and even Nova Scotia. However, to the north of Cape Breton Island and the archipelago south of Newfoundland, they were preceded by the Bretons of Armorique.

Since at least 1510, the Rouen market saw the Bretons compete for cod with the Nonnan fishermen. Moreover, even before 1506 the Rouen fishermen outfitted flotillas of cod fishing boats for Newfoundland.

Such activity occurred in most ports of Nonnandy, Brittany, Saintonge and the Bordelais starting in the first quarter of the 16th century.

It is in the context of this maritime bustle that one must seek the cartographic elements that served as a basis for a large number of maps prepared in France and especially Holland.

The Spanish hydrographers knew nothing westward beyond the longitudinal meridian of 60° W Greenwich at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Its depiction as a closed strait in Ribeiro's 1529 map is absurdly attributed time and again to Spanish secrecy in concealing what they considered to be the route to Cathay.

It is likely that the mystt;rious appearance of Prince Edward Island on Nova Scotia's east coast, as portrayed in PoItuguese, Spanish and Dieppe maps, is none other than part of Cape Breton Island, almost separated from the mainland by the Bras d'Or Channel and crudely depicted as an island by 1he Breton fishermen.

A complete outline of eastern North America from Newfoundland-Labrador down to Florida first turns up in the detailed drawings of Estevlo Gomez in 1525. Sevillian hydrographic charts of the 16th century and their derivatives all date back to Gomez. An important

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.....

landmark in Sevillian cartographical development is the emerging shape of the Avalon

Peninsula.

Robert de Bailly's globe of 1530 is the earliest known sketch of North America by a

Frenchman. The new continent is shown clearly separate from Asia, a geographic conception

that emerged with the Dieppe school and also found expression in the Harleian, Desliens and

Desceliers world maps. Other distinctive features of Dieppe cartography include:

1) The extraordinary fragmentation of the island of Newfoundland - a misinterpretation

resulting from Jacques Cartier's discovery of the Strait of Belle Isle. 2) Maps and accounts

introducing the region, including the town ofNorembegue (Norumbega) of Dieppe legend

and possibly fabricated by Verrazano's Norman companions in 1524. 3) Outline of the St.

Lawrence River and Great lakes. 4) Labrador place names, albeit drawn for the most part

from Portuguese maps.

Dieppe cartography of North America is ofLusitanian origin. One can discern a close bond

growing between France and Portugal since the war against the Castilian and Aragonese

coalition (1475). Even by then, Portuguese map makers had already settled in France.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the ports of Nonnandy and Brittany availed of

Portuguese pilots on their expeditions to Brazil and the West Indies.

Up to 1534, Newfoundland was depicted as a peninsula. But its deeply cut bays on the

Portuguese maps were elongated by the Dieppe geographers to such an extent that all of them

up to the Belle Isle Strait converged with one another at their extremities, effectively

splintering the island into a multifaceted archipelago. This error first appears in Desliens'

map of 1541 and would persist for a quarter century.

However, it was not until after Cartier's voyages that Cape Breton Island is detached and the

southern shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence assumes a more accurate shape.

Spanish, French and Italian cartographers were influenced mainly by Reinel' s depictions of

Newfoundland. The Viegas map of 1534 and the Riccardiana are the last maps that exhibit

an exclusively Portuguese lineation of Newfoundland. .

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Jacques Cartier's maps were noticeably different from any of the existing Dieppe maps.

Charts from the first voyage do not reveal the vast southern expanse of the Gulf of St.

Lawrence, and in subsequent maps present day Prince Edward Island is subsumed by the

west coast of Acadia.

The Portuguese and La Rochelle cartographers could well have been cognizant of the Strait

of Belle Isle before Cartier, but via the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Published in 1599, the account ofHakluyt's voyages includes a world map showing central

Canada Its outline originates mostly from Jacques Noel who relied on Jacques Cartier's

drawings.

Through most of the 16th century, there existed no sketch of the St. Lawrence River

extending beyond the point explored or described by Jacques Cartier in 1542. The same

holds true for the Great Lakes.

The boundaries of Newfoundland and Canada in Sebastian Cabot's planisphere (1544) were

plagiarized from an early Desliens type map of the Dieppe school.

The Harleian world map was completed after October 1542. Modeled after ,a Portuguese

map, it is the first Dieppe map reflecting the trend towards a compressed, insular shape for

Newfoundland.

Some of the Dieppe maps bear the same signature with varying outlines of the island, but

these alterations do not represent any geographical advances. Hence, there are grounds for

supposing that Franco-American maps from Dieppe comprise at least two types.

Apart from the Desliens map (1541) and Jehan Roze's atlas, all other maps of the Dieppe

school stem from Cartier's three voyages to Newfoundland and Canada.

In essence, they never evolved from being other than Portuguese derivatives, and their

features reflect the steady growth of Lusitanian cartography in this region. The French

contribution only shows up by way of added place names taken from Cartier's accounts of

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the voyages.

Jehan Alfonse's narration - not only about Newfoundland and Canada, b '0 any other region he claimed to visit - is suspect. This pilot from Saintonge fashioned a Cosmographie replete with plagiarisms from Enciso's Suma (Seville, 1519 and 1530). It was mainly through his Voyages aventureux, an abridged, mediocre version of the Cosmographie, that his imaginary descriptions reached a wide audience.

The maps and globes ascribed to Verrazano contribute nothing significant to the cartography of Newfoundland and Labrador.

On the post-Lusitano-Germanic maps, Newfoundland's insular traits do not ensue from more

precise knowledge of the island's contours, but disclose instead the enduring influence of Cantino. This also applies to the Mercator maps of 1538 and 1541 where the island is disconnected from the mainland, giving the impression that the cartographer was cognizant of the Strait of Belle Isle. However, it was still an arbitrary interpretation on maps of this

type.

The first correct picture of the whole island, but drawn to a very small scale and appearing to be an individual creation, turned up in 1543 in the portulan of Giovanni Benedetto, a Siennese cartographer in the service of Fran90is I.

Although by 1544 Alfonse reduced Newfoundland to two segments, it is the Portuguese who lead the way in cartographic development by whittling down its many fragments and rendering them more accurately.

In Vallard, Desceliers (1550 and 1553) and Ie Velho (1561), the Great Northern Peninsula begins to sprout; to the southeast, the Avalon Peninsula - already displayed before by Ottomano Freducci - and the Port au Port peninsula to the southwest.

The Portuguese were the first to entertain doubts about Newfoundland's western perimeter. Their maps demonstrate marked improvement, starting with the Portuguese map held in

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the Depot collection. *

Italian cartography of this region came into its own from 1511 with the Cantino maps, with

mapmakers from Gastaldi to Martines (1546 - 1590) following the example of the early

Dieppe maps but diverging from them in later versions.

Like Benedetto twenty years earlier, Desliens came to conceiving Newfoundland as a single

island by 1563.

The Normans did not adopt this innovative concept. Le Testu, De Vaulx and Pastoret held

with the traditional erring view. None other than the great Mercator relied on an old

Lusitano-Dieppe map for the outline of Newfoundland in his famous world map of 1569.

At the behest of the cardinal de Bourbon, an Englishman living in Rouen by the name of

Stephen Bellinger, explored a 200-league stretch of coastline extending southwest from Cape

Breton. But no map of the voyage is known to exist nor does any map cite Bellinger. Only

Halduyt acknowledges him.

Dependent on the Portuguese up to the end of the 16th centwy, the Dutch and Belgian

cartographers burst on the scene, most notably with Pierre Bertius' delineation of

Newfoundland (1600) in its entirety that was the best ever produced. It appears on a copper

engraved map, the first of its kind for the island. 1

The working draWing in the Stockholm Library reveals the general shape of Newfoundland,

with unusually eccentric contours for a Hall period map (1605), assuming it is dated

correctly.

Jacobsen's map of 1621 is a Lusitano-Norman derivative but no less notable for that.

The Dutch maritime atlases during the latter half of the 1"f1t centwy contain profiles that are

• Translator's note: Refers to the DepOt des Cartes et Plans de Ia Marine, the official French hydrographic service founded in 1720.

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mostly arbitrary adaptations of Portuguese and French maps skillfully put together, printed and disseminated.

The Champlain map of 1612, far from being an original creation, originates from a Dirch prototype and is inferior to Bertius' "little maple!". The last map from this famous Fre .. "~ colonist and hydrographer (1629) gives a more accurate orientation and is superior overall to his first attempt, but its depiction of the Avalon Peninsula leaves much to be desired, even for its time.

The oldest English maps showing Newfoundland were drawn up by Jehan Roze (1542), a Dieppe cartographer employed by Henry VDI. They are. entirely ofLusitano-Dieppe origin, revealing no evidence of exploration or English place names. Then came John Dee's manuscript map of 1580, derived directly from a Homem type Portuguese map. For almost a century, all successive English maps relied on their portrayal of Newfoundland from Dieppe, Italian or Dutch sources.

Official initiative from the English in Newfoundland did not begin until 161 0 when John Guy established a settlement in Conception Bay. It relocated to St. John's and again further south towards Cape Race.

The northern part of the island and almost all of the south were frequented exclusively by the French up to the middle of the 1"" century.

English language names' on the Jacobsen map (1621) point to the existence of maps that predate this year and were commonplace. In all likelihood, such maps showing Newfoundland were even printed and could have been produced by the English themselves or prepared for them by foreign cartographers. These maps are yet to be found.

Mason's map of 1626 was copied from a Dutch source and incorporates the first identifiable and significant English place names.

The first original English map finally appeared in 1675 with Henry Southwood's map of Newfoundland, focusing on the Avalon Peninsula and adjacent area.

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Lieutenant de Courcelle was the first French naval officer to circumnavigate the whole island

but his voyage was too brief to produce a substantially better map.

The first notable improvements emerge in regional maps, namely, the Great Northern

Peninsula, by the mariners ofSt. Malo in 1675, and the bays of the southern coast by the

Basques from 1674-1689.

Whatever the merits of lean-Baptiste Franquelin' s treatment ofNew France (1671-1701), his

cartographic handling of Newfoundland is outdated and contradictory. Yet, his maps are a

valuable source of place' names.

Only one example of 17* century French Canadian hydrography stands apart in avoiding

most of these flaws - the beautiful map in the DepOt collection but believed to have been

drawn in Paris.

Not until after the Treat of Utrecht did the English undertake further exploration in Newfoundland. A map dated 1718 names Captain Henry Southwood aboard the Swan, and

another identifies the voyage oflohn Gandy. However, both expeditions charted the Avalon

region only.

Still later, the young marquis de Chabert (1750-1754) of France carried out precise

observations to correct the maps of Acadia, Cape Breton Island and part of Newfoundland' s

southern coast - a remarkable tour de force for its time .

. But the eminent Captain lames Cook (1765-1767) earns the great distinction of laying the

definitive groundwork of Newfoundland hydrography and generating a complete map of the

island, peerless in its day and still bearing the stamp of authority.

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