Le Canada ou Partie de la Nouvelle France

French territorial claims in eastern Canada during the late 17th century.

This striking copperplate engraved map is one of the most significant and visually arresting depictions of French North America from the late 17th century. It captures the vast “Empire of the Woods” at a time when French explorers, Jesuits, and fur traders were pushing deep into the continental interior. The map’s scope is immense, stretching from the icy northern reaches of Hudson Bay—left tantalizingly open for future discoveries—down to the Atlantic coast. While much of the western interior remains a blank canvas for European exploration, dominated by a magnificent Baroque cartouche, the map offers an intriguing and distinctive rendering of the Great Lakes. The inclusion of the “Lac des Poux” (Lake of the Lice/Fleas) serves as a gritty reminder of the lived realities of frontier life.

The vast region serves as the theater for an escalating colonial rivalry between Britain and France, centered on the lucrative fur trade. The Hudson’s Bay Company, founded in 1670, is represented here by its fortified “factories,” constructed to reinforce English claims across the massive northern watershed. These military and economic outposts are prominently featured alongside their French counterparts, often accompanied by detailed historical annotations. Traditional Indigenous territories are delineated throughout the interior, identifying the nations that served as essential allies, trade partners, or formidable adversaries in the struggle for continental dominance.

Hubert Jaillot, as the premier cartographer to the “Sun King” Louis XIV, played a pivotal role in transforming geography into state propaganda. By enlarging and embellishing the earlier scientific surveys of Nicolas Sanson, Jaillot produced “Grand Siècle” masterpieces that made the North American frontier feel like an organized, domestic extension of the French Crown. During the height of King William’s War, maps like this functioned as powerful tools of public persuasion in the salons of Paris.