WELCOME Pennsylvania Regional Maps 1650's WELCOME

Pennsylvania did not exist prior to 1681, however these early maps show settlement in the region or were important in setting the boundaries of the state. Maryland's colonies were on the Chesapeake, Plowden never established any colony in New Jersey, and Dutch settlement on the Delaware was reduced to occasionally manned trading posts, since the main area of Dutch settlement was on the Hudson. So, the first permanent settlement in what is now Pennsylvania was by the Swedes. They landed along the Brandywine in 1638 and established a colony at Fort Christina (Wilmington). They extended settlements north to the Schuylkill River and from circa 1640 on, Swedish, Dutch, and English fur traders and farmers were settling at various points along the Delaware in what would become Pennsylvania, see Johnson and Weslager.

A famous map of North America was published in 1650 by Nicolas Sanson. He was among the first to make use of the Jesuit Relations, the detailed reports prepared by the Jesuit missionaries infiltrating New France. California remains an island and the entire west and north of the continent is a blank.


1650.1 PASCAERTE VAN NIEV NEDERLANT... . Burden (#297) considers this sea chart by Theunis Jacobsz to be the first Dutch sea chart of their new colony. The date of 1650 is used because Jacobsz died then. Three place names are given along the Delaware River, 'F. Naffau', 'Der hal', and 'Verhulft Eyl'. The first is obviously Fort Nassau and the map reflects Dutch, rather than Swedish, control of the river. This chart can be seen at MapForum.Com , Issue 2. McCorkle (#666.4) dates this map to 1666 when it first appeared in the Nieuwe water-werelt, ofte Zee-atlas. This image is the second state dated 1677 from the National Archives of Canada; however Burden and McCorkle date the second state to 1681. The major difference is an engraved cartouche added at lower right.
  1650.2 (East Coast) An untitled manuscript map prepared in 1650 by John Farrer of the Virginia Company still survives today in the New York Public Library. It is illustrated on Plate 327 in Cumming, Skelton & Quinn, and differs considerably from the 1651 printed version based upon it described below.
1651.1 A MAP OF VIRGINIA DISCOUERED TO YE FALLS... This map (Burden #303) appeared in 1651, and is based upon the manuscript map prepared in 1650 by John Farrer of the Virginia Company which still survives today in the New York Public Library. This could be considered a continental map because the west coast is shown just beyond the Appalachian Mountains with Sir Francis Drake's landing illustrated. However, it is clearly derived from John Smith's map and shows the coastal region from 'Hudfons' to 'Ca. Feare'. 'Lord Delawars Bay and river' are named with the note: 'This Riuer the Lord Ployden hath a Patten of and calls it new Albion but the Sweeds are planted in it and haue a great trade of Furrs.' The 'Safquehanakes Riuers' is shown emptying into the 'Checepiacke'. Cape May is called 'Cape James'. The Hudson is shown connecting to the St. Lawrence River leading to a 'A Mighty great Lake'. This map is also reproduced in Stephenson & McKee. It exists in several states; this image was published by John Overton circa 1667 and is from the Library of Congess. Some later versions of the map were titled A MAP OF VIRGINIA DISCOVERED TO YE HILLS.
  1651.2 BELGII NOVI ANGLIAE NOVAE ET PARTIS VIRGINIAE, published by Joannes Jansson in 1651. As Burden (where the map is #305) says: "this map must be ranked as one of the fundamental prototype maps of America." It was reproduced for over a hundred years by a succession of Dutch cartographers from Jansson to Lotter, and the series is discussed by Tony Campbell in Chapter 8 of Tooley. The map shows the coast quite accurately from Maine to the Chesapeake, however the interior is unknown and even the Great Lakes are not shown. The Delaware upstream is connected to the Hudson, but the Susquehanna is shown for the first time in reasonable form, and with a pair of large Indian villages surrounded by palisades just west of it. Mohicans, Senecas, Matanacs, and other tribes are identified. The Swedish settlements Fort Chriftina and Uplandt are identified along with several other settlement and stream names. Present day Cape Henlopen is placed too far south and its place taken by 'C. Cornelius', a mistake that would have consequences for Delaware and Maryland. A 1657 version is reproduced in Fite & Freeman and several derivatives of this famous map are included here.
  1651.3 VIRGINIA NIEU NEDER-LANDT NEW ENGELANDT. Also in 1651 appeared this map by Joost Hartgers (Burden #304) showing the coast from Maine to Carolina. The Dutch names along the Delaware are used including 'Fort Naffau' and also 'Chriftina', the Swedish settlement at Wilmington. There is an inset of Bermuda.
  1652
1653.1 LE CANADA FAICT PAR LE LR CHAMPLAIN. OU SONT LA NOUVELLE FRANCE, LA NOUVELLE ANGLETERRE, LA NOUVELLE HOLANDE, LA NOUVELLE SVEDE, LA VIRGINIE... by Pierre Duval (Burden #309). Burden discusses an untitled map (Burden #188) dated circa 1616 and believed to be a proof copy pulled from a plate used by Pierre Duval for this map, which also is in Schwartz & Ehrenberg. The original map is attributed to Champlain but Duval has added considerably more names and identities. The Delaware is called 'R. de Sud' which is the Dutch name for it. This image is from the National Archives of Canada. A version dated 1664 (McCorkle #664.1) can be seen at Pugsley Maps from McGill University and a 1677 version (McCorkle #677.1) can be seen at The Cartographic Creation of New England , an exhibit at the Oscher Map Library.
  1654
1655.1 NOVI BELGII NOVAEQUE ANGLIAE NEC NON PARTIS VIRGINIAE TABULA by Nicolaas Visscher. Around 1655, Visscher's version (Burden #315) of the 1651 Jansson map appeared with this slightly different title, although there is apparently some debate whether this map was prepared first though published later. Burden relates an interesting note concerning William Penn as follows: "...an example of the second state (which Burden dates circa 1656) was used in the first boundary dispute between William Penn and Lord Baltimore of Maryland. It resides today in the John Work Garrett Library and bears lines marking the settled border as ordered by the Privy Council in 1685. Unfortunately the map placed Cape Henlopen some twenty-five miles too far south, creating a source for future discord. Penn's own writing on the reverse identifies it." This note by Penn on the back of the map is reproduced in Papenfuse & Coale. The Jansson-Visscher maps are illustrated at MapForum.Com , Issue 13, and also discussed in an article by Campbell in Tooley, where a third state of the Visscher map is mentioned. The 1655 state of the map is rare according to Burden and this image is from a rather poor reproduction in Mathews of a later version.
  1655.2 (East Coast) Weslager mentions two maps titled A Chart of the Coast-line from Virginia to New England, and A Chart of the South Bay, dating both circa 1630-40. They were published in 1912 as a supplement to the Linschoten-Vereeniging edition of de Vries, Korte Historiael, Colenbrander (Ed.); these maps are also listed by Dunlap. The Korte Historiael ende Journaels aenteyckenvnge... (Short Historical and Journal Notes) by David Pietersz De Vries is a small quarto volume with illustrations published in 1655. It has been reprinted in English in historical compilations (usually without maps) several times. The editor for the New York Historical Society Second Series, Vol. III Part 1 (1857), had this to say about its maps: "We cannot say anything in favor of the plates connected with his voyages to America. They are for the most part copied from Champlain, and look indeed very much like the identical plates used to illustrate an edition of his voyages to Canada." De Vries was involved in the Dutch settlement near Lewes in 1631 that was wiped out by the Indians. He explored the Delaware circa 1631-32. More recently, these maps are reproduced in Burden (2007) and would appear to be based upon early Dutch charts rather than Champlain, i.e. the Vingboons maps 1639.1-4 which themselves were likely based upon explorations by De Vries. The coastline map is untitled and nothing local is identified; it is similar to the Colom map 1656.1 below. The Delaware map is titled PAS-CAART VAN DE SUYD - RIVIER IN NIEW NEDERLAND, and indicates "Swanendael" (i.e. Lewes) along the Delaware coast and "Fort Naffouw" in New Jersey, and nothing else. It is similar to the Vingboons maps of the Delaware.
1656.1 PASCAARTE VAN NIEU NEDERLANDT... In the year 1656 Arnold Colom published Zee-Atlas, ofte Water-Wereldt, which contains this chart (Burden #316) of the region from Cape Cod to Carolina. Delaware Bay is reasonably shown with the capes named and also the 'Schuyl Kil', kil means river or stream in Dutch. Nothing inland is identified. This chart can be seen at MapForum.Com , Issue 2, and also in Issue 7 where a compilation of Colom's sea atlas is presented. The image here is from Stokes.
1656.2 NOVA BELGICA SIVE NIEUW NEDERLANDT. This map (Burden #317) appears in the second edition of the book Beschryvinge van Nieuw-Nederlant by Adriaen van der Donck, however Burden ascribes the map to the publisher Evert Nieuwenhof since the author had died. It is centered on the Hudson River but the upper Delaware appears along the left edge, and the map is actually an excerpt from the Jansson-Visscher map. A number of place names along the river are identified including 'Finlant' which documents the little known Finnish attempt at settlement. Campbell (in Tooley Chapter 8) mentions three later states of this map. There is a large reproduction of this map in Johnson (1974). This image is from Winsor.
1656.3 LE CANADA OU NOUVELLE FRANCE &C. by Nicolas Sanson (Burden #318) is an excerpt from his continental map of 1650. It depicts the region from Labrador to Georgia. Lakes Ontario, Erie, and 'Superieur' have their present names, but Lake Huron is 'Karegnon Di' and Lake Michigan 'Lac de Puans'. This image is from the National Archives of Canada. A reduced version of this map (Burden #325) appeared in L'Amerique en plusieurs cartes published in 1657. This map can be seen at Pugsley Maps from McGill University. One of the most interesting features of the map is its division of the Delmarva peninsula setting off the Swedish settlements. This is the earliest map seen setting up such a division which later on became so important a boundary question between Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.
  1656.4 Sometime circa 1656 as dated by Burden (#322), appears a curiosity of a map by Pierre Duval. It is titled L'AMERIQVE, but is a set of small maps showing portions of the continent. The one titled 'La Virginie' shows the Pennsylvania region.
  1657.1 In 1653 Francesco Bressani published a book describing his years as a Jesuit missionary in New France. (The movie 'Black Robe' brilliantly depicts the experiences of a French Jesuit in this era.) The map that was to accompany the book was issued in 1657 and titled NOVAE FRANCIAE ACCURATA DELINEATIO 1657 (Burden #323). It depicts the region from the St. Lawrence to Carolina. Lakes Ontario and Erie are named, Huron is called 'Mare Dvlce'. Delaware Bay is indicated and the region called 'Nova Svecia', showing French knowledge of the Swedish settlements. The western half of this map is reproduced in Portinaro & Knirsch, Plate XCII.
  1657.2 LE CANADA OU NOUVELLE FRANCE &C. by Nicolas Sanson (Burden #325), A reduced version of Sanson's 1656 map which appeared in the atlas L'Amerique en plusieurs cartes published in 1657. This map appeared in many later editions using Sanson maps, see 1683 for example.
1657.3 The same Sanson atlas contained another map titled LA FLORIDE (Burden #326). The latitude extends north to 40 degrees and Lake Erie is positioned three degrees too far south. A derivative of this map (Burden #352) by Pierre Duval appeared in 1660. The image shown here is from the Library of Congress.
  1658
  1659
1600-1630 1630's 1640's 1650's 1660's 1670's 1680's 1690's

Home Page 16th Century Maps 17th Century Maps 18th Century Maps 19th Century Maps 20th Century Maps References