1747 Bowen Map of North America and South America ( Western Hemisphere)

A stunning 1747 decorative map of the Western Hemisphere by E. Bowen. Covers North and South America as well as much of the Pacific and the Atlantic as far as Spain and the Canary Islands.

Details America during the Colonial Period. In North America, England controls the colonies along the eastern coast of the continent and surrounding the Hudson Bay. France occupies Louisiana, parts of Canada, and the Great Lakes region. Spain controls the western part of the continent as well as Florida, Mexico, most of the West Indies and, with the exception of Portuguese Brazil, all of South America.

Most of western North America is unexplored though Bowen does name several known points along the coast, including the Bay of the Conception and Cape Mendocino. He also notes Drakes Port where Francis Drake laid claim to New Albion for England in 1579. Though the true location of Drakes Port is the object of considerable debate, most associate it with Pelican Bay on the border of California and Oregon. 'The Pelican' was Francis Drake's ship and the bay is named after it to this day.

Further north the coastline becomes speculative, though the 'Supposed Straits of Annian' are noted. The Straits of Anian are said to be the entrance to a Northwest Passage discovered in the 16th century by the apocryphal navigator Admiral de Fonte.

Inland, near the northern tip of Baja, Bowen draws Great Teguayo, one of the Kingdoms of Gold presumed to be found in the unexplored American west. Teguayo first appears in the Benevides Memorial, where it is described as a kingdom of great wealth to rival Quivara, another mythical kingdom which curiously does not appear on this map. The idea was later popularized in Europe by the nefarious Spaniard and deposed governor of New Mexico, the Count of Penalosa. Originally Teguayo was said to lie west of the Mississippi and north of the Gulf of Mexico, but for some reason, Bowen situates it further to the west. In the same part of the world, Bowen also maps the Rio Grande, or the North River, as a rival in magnificence to the Mississippi itself, extending north well into Canada.

North of Lake Superior Bowen adds another enormous lake, easily rivaling the Great Lakes themselves in its majesty. Though labeled Assempolis Lake, it most likely represents the Lake of the Woods. This area was being actively explored in the early 18th century by French traders with hopes of discovering a river route to the Pacific. Though no such route was ever found, many believed that rivers leading west from the Lake of the Woods would empty into the Pacific or even a great inland sea called the Sea of the West. Bowen clearly a cautious cartographer, does not speculate on the unknown.

South America is well mapped with numerous Amazon tributaries noted. Bowen includes the apocryphal Lake of Xarayes as the northern terminus of the Paraguay River. ' Xarayes' is a corruption of 'Xaraiés' meaning 'Masters of the River.' The Xaraiés were an indigenous people occupying what are today parts of Brazil's Matte Grosso and the Pantanal. When Spanish and Portuguese explorers first navigated up the Paraguay River, as always in search of El Dorado, they encountered the vast Pantanal flood plain at the height of its annual inundation. Understandably misinterpreting the flood plain as a gigantic inland sea, they named it after the local inhabitants, the Xaraies. The Laguna de los Xarayes almost immediately began to appear on early maps of the region and, at the same time, almost immediately took on a legendary aspect as the gateway to El Dorado.

The South Pacific portions of this map contain numerous islands, some of which are real, but most of which are difficult to associate with any actual islands. The Solomon Islands are drawn wildly out of proportion to their actual size leading to speculation that they may have been confused with nearby New Britain. Also names several other uncertain island groups including several islands, labeled Quiros, supposedly discovered in 1603. Notes Easter Island, which was discovered by Davis in 1686, as well as a mysterious land to the north supposedly sighted by an English pilot in 1636. This bit of land appears uncannily like Davis' Land, which does appear in other maps of the period and which most now associate with Eastern Island. Given the date and the lack of evidence of another English pilot in the region during in the 1630s, we speculate that the engraver of this map must mistakenly substituted a 3 for an 8.

Drawn my Emmanuel Bowen for issue in his 1747 edition of A Complete System of Geography...

Cartographer

Emanuel Bowen (1694 - May 8, 1767) was a Welsh cartographer, map engraver, and publisher active in London during the first half and middle of the 18th century. Born at Talley, Carmarthenshire, he was apprenticed in 1709 to the London engraver and globe-maker Charles Price, beginning a career that combined the compilation of geographical information with copperplate engraving for booksellers and map publishers. His early work included maps for an Atlas of the World issued in 1717, followed by Britannia Depicta; or, Ogilby Improv'd (1720), prepared with John Owen, which brought together reduced road-strip maps, county maps, and historical and heraldic information in a portable volume. In 1729, Bowen published a subscription-funded map of South Wales, substantially improving the region's cartographic representation; the map's geographical information subsequently informed his Welsh county maps. After working at several London addresses, he established workshops in Aldersgate, Smithfield, and Clerkenwell, producing maps extensively for other publishers rather than relying on a prominent retail shop. His international cartography included maps for A Complete System of Geography (1744 - 1747), the 1744-48 edition of Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca, and A Complete Atlas (1752). He became geographer to George II around 1747. Among his apprentices were Thomas Kitchin (1719 - 1784), who married Bowen's daughter Sarah in 1739, and Thomas Jefferys (1719 - 1771), apprenticed in 1735. With Kitchin, Bowen produced the county maps issued between 1749 and 1760 that formed The Large English Atlas; their collaboration continued in The Royal English Atlas around 1763. His maps characteristically combined detailed geographical engraving and ornamental cartouches with extensive historical, economic, and topographical annotations. Despite his substantial output and royal appointment, Bowen died in reduced circumstances in 1767. His son and fellow engraver, Thomas Bowen (d. 1790), continued his cartographic work, including Atlas Anglicanus (1767 - 1768), which was completed and issued after Emanuel's death.   Further Details...

Source

Bowen, E., A complete system of geography. Being a description of all the countries, islands, cities, chief towns, harbours, lakes, and rivers, mountains, mines, &c. of the known world …, 1747 edition.    

Condition

Very good conditon. Original centerfold. Mild overall toning. Old printing crease through southern Greenland. Blank on verso.

References

Rumsey 3733.050. Phillips (Atlases) 603-51. Shirley, R. W, Maps in the Atlases of the British Library, T.BOW-2a, #51.