1775 Anville / Santini Map of the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi

Premier Great Lakes Map of the Mid-18th Century.

This is Paolo Santini's 1775 map of the western part of Canada, the Upper Mississippi, and the Great Lakes Region. Produced to satisfy European interest in the American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783), it drew on D'Anville's map, the best French mapping of the region produced during the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763).

A Closer Look

The map extends from the Missouri River and its confluence with the Mississippi in the lower left, to embrace the four western Great Lakes in their entirety, and the western two-thirds of Lake Ontario. It reaches as far north as James Bay; Pennsylvania appears in the lower right, with Philadelphia appearing just outside the border in the extreme southeast. The original outline color in green emphasizes the Great Lakes; to the west, a line of pink and green demarcates a loosely defined border between the British territory to the east and the French territory of Louisiane to the west. The river systems are mapped in detail, with many place names given in both European and Native languages. Drawing on both French and British cartographic data, D'Anville identifies countless American Indian tribes, many of which, like the Sioux and the Missouri, the British had only vague knowledge of. Moreover, D'Anville maps swamps, rapids, fords, abandoned villages, and even the ancient remnants of mound-builder culture in the Ohio Valley. The ancient ruins of Cahokia are marked on the Mississippi.

A Superior Lake Superior

A key area in which D'Anville's map (and consequently, this one) differed from the 1755 Mitchell is its representation of Lake Superior. Mitchell's map wholeheartedly embraced Charlevoix's 1744 mapping of the Great Lakes, which prominently included four phantom islands in Lake Superior (Philippeux, Pontchartrain, Maurepas, and St. Anne) as well as a misplaced and distorted Isle Royale. Thus, Mitchell's mapping of the lake was based on the report of an explorer who had not in fact visited the lake in question. D'Anville had not ignored Charlevoix, but had instead minimized Pontchartrain, Maurepas, and St. Anne; in position and size, the former two islands on D'Anville's map more closely resemble the actual Slate Islands, while St. Anne might be taken for Caribou Island. Charlevoix' Philippeux disappears entirely, and D'Anville presents Isle Royale quite accurately (albeit using the name Isle Minong).

Asserting French Claims

Santini's source map presented a French perspective of the territorial alignments and claims of North America shortly following the outbreak of the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763). In this frontier region can be found an array of French forts, including Fort Duquesne (here Fort du Quéne), Fort de la Presquisle, and Fort Le Beouf (here, Fort de la Piv aux Beufs). Santini, producing this map two decades later, includes a color border well to the west reflecting the post-1763 division of the continent between the British and the French, nevertheless retaining the pre-Treaty-of-Paris details.

Mapping the Missouri

The Missouri River is mapped as far as just beyond the fork of the Kansas River; the settlement of Kansez is shown at the fork. The mapping of the Missouri appears to be derived from the explorations of Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont. In 1723, he established Fort Orleans, whose location is marked abandoné. (It was either abandoned or massacred in 1726.)

Bridging Two Wars

D'Anville's 1755 map - of which Santini's work is a faithful copy - was produced specifically in response to the English Mitchell map, which was published the same year, in the early years of the French and Indian War. The maps do share some similarities (as indeed did some parts of the Mitchell map resemble D'Anville's 1746 North America). D'Anville's rebuttal removed references to English factories and settlements in some contested areas; at the same time, it added detail from French sources which would not have been available to Mitchell. This results in D'Anville's superior representation of the Saint Lawrence Watershed and the regions to the north.  At the dawn of the American Revolution, broad European interest in the conflict created demand for accurate maps of the theater of war; the best French maps dated to the late war with England.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved in Venice in 1775 for inclusion in Francois and Paolo Santini's 1776 Atlas Universel dressé sur les meilleures Cartes Modernes, published by Remondini. The source, D'Anville's four-sheet map intended to be joined, was likely acquired in Paris by Francois Santini, then passed on to Paolo in Venice for re-engraving. The Santinis engraved each of the 4 d'Anville sheets as separate maps, each with its own cartouche. The present map is known in two states: the first state bearing the volume and plate number P.11.46 (as here), and the second plate lacking the number. Twenty examples of the separate map are listed in institutional collections, but as none of these entries reference the plate number, it is impossible to determine a census of the individual states.

Cartographers

Paolo Santini (1729 - June 1793) and his brother Francois [Francesco] Santini (fl. 1776 - 1784) were Italian engravers and map publishers based in Venice. The brothers were born in Venice. They are best known for their Atlas Universel dressé sur les meilleures cartes modernes, a grand atlas presenting state-of-the-art French cartography to a Venetian audience. They drew on the cream of 18th Century French cartographers such as Robert de Vaugondy, Jaillot, De L'Isle, and D'Anville. Their atlas was published by the Remondini house in Venice, who purchased the plates and publishing rights from the Santinis in 1781. Paolo was a priest of the Church of Santa Maria Formosa and a professor of architecture in the public schools of Venice. Moreover, he was an ingenious mechanic and invented a large drill used in the Venetian Arsenal for boring cannons, as well as a cutting instrument designed to verify reliably, under any circumstances, the authenticity of licenses issued to merchant captains. With a zigzag cut made in a single movement of the handle, the original document was divided from its matching counterpart. He appears to have been the primary engraver of the two brothers as well. In addition to maps, he also illustrated and engraved architectural plates. He died in Belluno in June 1793, having traveled there to attend the wedding of a close relative. Francesco is believed to have traveled more broadly, including maintaining an office in Paris, where he purchased many of the maps that would inform the brothers' work. He is known to have associated with several French cartographers of the late 18th century, including Rigobert Bonne. His offices in Paris were located at Rue St. Justine pres de L'Eglise.   Further Details...

Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (1697 - 1782) was perhaps the most important and prolific cartographer of the 18th century. D'Anville's passion for cartography manifested during his school years when he amused himself by composing maps for Latin texts. There is a preserved manuscript dating to 1712, Graecia Vetus, which may be his earliest surviving map - he was only 15 when he drew it. He would retain an interest in the cartography of antiquity throughout his long career and published numerous atlases to focusing on the ancient world. At twenty-two D'Anville, sponsored by the Duke of Orleans, was appointed Geographer to the King of France. As both a cartographer and a geographer, he instituted a reform in the general practice of cartography. Unlike most period cartographers, D'Anville did not rely exclusively on earlier maps to inform his work, rather he based his maps on intense study and research. His maps were thus the most accurate and comprehensive of his period - truly the first modern maps. Thomas Basset and Philip Porter write: "It was because of D'Anville's resolve to depict only those features which could be proven to be true that his maps are often said to represent a scientific reformation in cartography." (The Journal of African History, Vol. 32, No. 3 (1991), pp. 367-413). In 1754, when D'Anville turned 57 and had reached the height of his career, he was elected to the Academie des Inscriptions. Later, at 76, following the death of Philippe Buache, D'Anville was appointed to both of the coveted positions Buache held: Premier Geographe du Roi, and Adjoint-Geographer of the Academie des Sciences. During his long career D'Anville published some 211 maps as well as 78 treatises on geography. D'Anville's vast reference library, consisting of over 9000 volumes, was acquired by the French government in 1779 and became the basis of the Depot Geographique - though D'Anville retained physical possession his death in 1782. Remarkably almost all of D'Anville's maps were produced by his own hand. His published maps, most of which were engraved by Guillaume de la Haye, are known to be near exact reproductions of D'Anville' manuscripts. The borders as well as the decorative cartouche work present on many of his maps were produced by his brother Hubert-Francois Bourguignon Gravelot. The work of D'Anville thus marked a transitional point in the history of cartography and opened the way to the maps of English cartographers Cary, Thomson and Pinkerton in the early 19th century.   Further Details...

Source

Santini, P. and F., Atlas universel dressé sur les meilleures cartes modernes (Venice: Remondini) 1776.    

Condition

Excellent. Some marginal soiling, else fine with original outline color.

References

OCLC 5408211. Rumsey 12039.129 Kershaw, K., Early Printed Maps of Canada, no. 977.