ABSTRACT
During the Renaissance, Europeans had become obsessed with the idea of map-making, although their efforts bore very little relationship to the science of geography being practised by the end of the seventeenth century. Maps were symbolic expressions of man’s relationship with God rather than accurate representations of the physical realities of continents and landscapes. Sailors and travellers did not use maps as guides; instead they were intellectual tools used by the sedentary enthusiast. Mercator’s map of 1569 was the first to challenge the dominance of the classical authorities, especially that of Ptolomy.6 e commission of maps and representations of the world in map form became part of the European power discourse in which the hegemony she aspired to over the continents of Asia, Africa and newly discovered America was represented symbolically. In the Ortelius atlas of 1572, Europa is depicted as a female figure at whose feet three women sit adoringly: wealthy Asia, half-naked Africa and cannibalistic America.7 By the seventeenth century maps were beginning to lose their metaphorical significance but were still used to control power discourse by their European creators. To know and define an area and so be able to map it accurately was to assert control over it. As Marlowe’s Tamberlaine put it, ‘Give me a map and then let me see how much is left for me to conquer all the world’.8 During Elizabeth’s reign, crown officials were the most important commissioners of maps; they were aware how important the information contained within a map might be, and so were very wary of other countries, especially Spain, acquiring this knowledge. is may explain why many manuscript maps intended for use by a restricted audience were more accurate than the published versions which were intended as optimistic propaganda.9 e importance of maps is illustrated by the John Smith map drawn up initially in 1608 and sent back to England by Captain Newport. Smith also sent a duplicate of his manuscript map to Henry Hudson who made practical use of it during his own explorations around the Hudson River.10 When Smith himself returned to England, he engaged the engraver William Hole to make a reproduction of his map that could be printed and widely distributed and this copy was used in his 1612 book, A Map of Virginia. It was subsequently included in Smith’s Generall History of 1624 and Samuel Purchas’ 1625 edition of Purchas, His Pilgrims. Smith’s map, a source for all maps of Virginia for sixty years, drew on both English and Native American knowledge.
