ABSTRACT
Exploration was a continual feature of British and French colonialism throughout the period and was always incomplete: there was always a frontier that could be crossed and unknown territories mapped. Initial exploration had concentrated on inland bays or rivers, and then penetrated to the interior. Settlements by the British were essentially coastal to begin with, and the penetration of the back country was always difficult and gradual, seemingly up against an intractable landscape and native hostility. In many different ways, therefore, native informants influenced the production of maps by Europeans, who often formed their opinions about feasible routes of exploration and trade from them. Explorers, particularly those sent to investigate specific routes, saw accurate map-making as one of their primary duties, along with the collection of information on the peoples and their attitudes to the British or French along the way. Examples of this are types of low-key, careful mapping undertaken largely by military men.
