University of Michigan News Service – UM News

Early maps: information and misinformation

EDITORS: Photo available on request.

ANN ARBOR—Early printed cartography is the focus of the current exhibit at the University of Michigan’s Clements Library. Drawn from the gift of Mr. and Mrs. William G. Earle, the display includes maps from 1548 to 1834 and will be available for viewing through May 31.

An Ann Arbor native and U-M graduate (BS ’63, LLD ’66), William Earle put together a collection of maps that range from the common to the very rare that, as a collection, says Brian Dunnigan, curator of the exhibit, “provides a colorful cross-section of printed maps as sources of information (and misinformation) about a world that was rapidly unfolding before European eyes. During the time period these maps represent, depictions of the Western Hemisphere progressed from crude and often fanciful outlines to highly detailed maps. The maps from the Earle collection selected for this exhibit give some idea of the wide range of map types, subjects, and details that fire the interest of collectors.”

Some of these maps indicated water routes into the North American continent and the continent’s outlines, but the interior remained “a land of imaginary cities and few details,” says Dunnigan.

Early explorers of the North American continent were also map-makers. While they did supply most of the information contained in their maps, additional information from Native American informants about the lands and waters beyond that exploration was often included.

One item on several maps that attracts attention is the popular 17th century representation of California as an island. Such cartographic “curiosities,” errors or assumptions were frequently repeated as map-makers shamelessly copied the work of others.

“The error first appeared in 1622 on an outline map of America by Michael Colijns and was popularized the same year by Henry Biggs, who claimed to have seen a Dutch map verifying the feature,” says Dunnigan.

Other map-makers perpetuated the error. While the existence of an “Isle” of California was firmly disproved in 1698, it did not disappear easily. It can be found on some maps as late as the 1770s.

Of all parts of the World that were appearing on maps in the 16th century, the most forbidding and mysterious were the polar regions that remained largely inaccessible until the 20th century. But that did not prevent map-makers from speculating about their appearance or perpetuating popular myths, says Dunnigan. One of those myths was that there was a northern open-water passage to Asia to correspond to the passage at the southern end of South America.

Other curiosities included mythical islands in Lake Superior and the North Atlantic, mountain ranges in south Florida and in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. But the Earle Collection gives some hint to a steady progression in the understanding of the land. And by 1834, the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge presented a very modern-looking Florida, complete with a growing number of towns, a few roads, proposed canals, and a military cantonment near the site of modern Tampa.

Maps included in the exhibit demonstrate more than the coastal outlines, and geographical highlights. They also showed drawings of socialization such as Brazilian women producing a beverage from roots and serving it to their men. Many maps included illustrations of boats and houses, kayaks, log dugouts, with one showing a Japanese vessel in the northwest Pacific.

One map of Virginia and Florida show a “king” and “queen” of Florida, and another depicts the northern Atlantic coast with villages of bark houses surrounded by defensive stockades and some of the abundant game animals.

“A Map Collector’s Collection” in the Library’s exhibit room is open to the public Monday-Friday, 1-4:45 p.m. and by special appointment.