Carte qui Contient une Description des Îles & Terres Que les Anglois Possedent dans l’Amerique Septentrionale…

“Map Containing a Description of the Islands and Lands that the English Possess in North America…” – Approximate title translation. This fascinating compilation of maps presents the primary territorial possessions of the British Empire in North America during the early 18th century. The colony of Jamaica is front and center, as it was one of the most profitable of the many sugar plantations worked by slaves. Other areas, each accompanied by descriptive text, include Barbados, New England, Bermuda, the Carolinas, the Chesapeake Bay, and Newfoundland. An inset in the upper center shows the West Indies, a theater of intense colonial competition, rampant piracy, and devastated indigenous populations. The copperplate-engraved sheet was originally published in Paris as part of Henri Abraham Chatelain’s important Atlas Historique. This monumental seven-volume set was first issued in Amsterdam between 1705 and 1720, but was reprinted until the late 1730s. The scholarly, but approachable, work was aimed at a broad audience, eager for new information during the Age of Enlightenment. The breadth of content offers a nuanced synthesis of geography, cosmography, history, religion, ethnology, and political science. The descriptive text (in French) and skillfully engraved maps, diagrams, and illustrations provide a fascinating window into the world of the early 18th century.