Competition Over Land, Competition Over Empire Public Discourse and Printed Maps of the Kennebec River, 1753–1755
Competition Over Land, Competition Over Empire Public Discourse and Printed Maps of the Kennebec River, 1753–1755
This chapter presents one of the many curiosities among the cartographies of colonial North America—a set of three maps of land grants along the Kennebec River, in the Eastern District of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, or present-day Maine, that were printed in Boston and London in 1753 and 1755. It was rare for maps of such geographically precise land grants to be printed. It was truly exceptional for three maps of the same small area to be printed in such quick succession. Two of the maps made overt reference to a dispute over conflicting land grants. Historians have hitherto taken this dispute to be sufficient causal explanation for all three maps by assuming that all three were prepared and published in conjunction with lawsuits or to shape public opinion concerning the dispute. Yet no one has explained how the maps contributed to any such lawsuits or why the public in either Boston or London would have had an interest in the dispute.
Keywords: cartographies, colonial North America, land grants, historians, public opinion
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