1755 / 1787 Le Rouge Map of British and French Territories in North America

French Territorial Claims in North America.

This is Louis Le Rouge's 1755/1787 map of the British Colonies in North America, surrounded by French territorial claims as they stood at the beginning of the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763). While the present state was published just after the American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783), it was composed and first printed in 1755, and was edited in 1777 to provide a record of the earlier conflict. Hence, its focus is on the battles of the earlier conflict and the extensive inclusion of Native American tribes and settlements.

A Closer Look

Covering the eastern coast of North America between Newfoundland and Florida, this map highlights the French and British colonies in North America. Settlements, forts, and Native American tribes are labeled throughout, as are rivers, lakes, mountains, and, on the ocean, sand banks. Three insets towards the bottom-right present Lower Louisiana (including much of today's Alabama and Mississippi), the Louisiana Territory writ large, and a small illustration of Niagara Falls. The locations of some battles of the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763) are referenced with crossed swords. Le Rouge adds some noteworthy descriptive text, such as 'remplie des buffles' (full of bison) just west of the Mississippi River in the inset at the bottom right.

Le Rouge restricts the British Colonies southwards. New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania are focused on the Delaware, Hudson, and Susquehanna river valleys. New England is shown inclusive of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island; these subordinate place names were added to the map in 1777. The regions surrounding the Finger Lakes, Great Lakes, and Lake Champlain are all places securely within French territory. Anglicized place names such as 'Indian Town' and 'Nort Carolina' reflect Le Rouge's British sources (namely Jefferys' 1755 North America from the French of Mr. D'Anville… which incorporated British surveys to improve on d'Anville's existing work). New York State is oddly divided in half by a border. Le Rouge himself acknowledges uncertainties, such as the differing location of 'Fort du Quesne' according to d'Anville and Jefferys, or a group of Native American villages on a branch of the Missouri River in the inset at right ('12 villages on dit quils en ont 70' - '12 villages they say there are 70').

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by George-Louis Le Rouge in 1755 for inclusion in the Le Rouge atlases; at that juncture, the map was titled Canada et Louisiane par le Sr. Le Rouge... (McCorkle 755.23. A second state, titled Theatre de la guerre en Amerique was printed in 1777 (McCorkle 777.14); this state included more colonial place names within New England, as well as the locations of several French and Indian War battles. The present example is the third plate of the map, printed for Francois Soules' Histoire des troubles de l'Amerique Anglais. This edition of the map is independently cataloged among the holdings of McGill University, the University of Michigan, the New York Public Library, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (in the latter two cases, the catalog listing attributes it to the publisher of Soules' work, Brisson, rather than to Le Rouge).

Cartographer

Georges-Louis Le Rouge (c. 1707 - c. 1790) was a Paris based map publisher operating in the middle part of the 18th century. Le Rouge was born in Hanover Germany as Georg Ludwig, where he was educated and employed as a military engineer and surveyor. His father may have been the French architect Louis Remy de la Fosse (1659 - 1726), which would explain his early education in both engineering and draftsmanship. He assisted his father on a large-scale plan of Darmstadt, which he completed following his father's death in 1726. He may have remained in Darmstadt, but little is known of his life from 1726 - 1736, when he appears in Paris. Le Rouge acquired a position as military and civil engineer for King Louis XV and Louis XVI. Around this time, he Francophied his name to 'Le Rouge'. In 1740, he set up shop on the Rue Des Grands Augustins as an engraver, book publisher, and map publisher. He partnered with the English cartographer and engineer John Rocque (1709 - 1762), who became an important source for English maps, which Le Rouge re-engraved for French use. Despite being born German and adopting Paris as his home, Le Rouge was an ardent Anglophile and spent much of his time translating English books and maps into French. During his active period of roughly forty years Le Rouge produced thousands of maps and diagrams ranging from city and town plans, to atlases, plans of military campaigns and sea charts. He was a friend and correspondent of Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790), with whom he produced the important 1769 Franklin/Folger Map of the Gulf Stream. Franklin, who met Le Rouge in Paris, writes that 'He [Le Rouge] is, I believe, a proper person.' He was awarded for his diligence with the impressive but unstipended honorific 'Geographe du Roi'. They may not have served him swell during the French Revolution (1789 - 1799), as his last known work was published in 1789, just before the storming of the Bastille. The exact date of Le Rouge's death remains a mystery. By most estimates, he is believed to have been alive in 1790, but may have lived as long as 1794.   Further Details...

Source

Soulés, F., Histoire des troubles de l'Amerique Anglais, (Paris: Buisson) 1787.    

Condition

Good. Left margin extended with some manuscript reinstatement of border. Some wear along two intersections of folds; worming in title with slight loss.

References

OCLC 49048122, 79091746, 425960254. McCorkle #755.23, 777.14.