Voyage de M. Carver, Dans L’Interieur de L’Amerique Septentrionale

“One of the earliest [maps] to show actual results of British exploration in the interior.” [Carl Wheat, 175].

Jonathan Carver’s explorations through the Great Lakes and upper Midwest between 1766-68 represent one of the earliest expeditions aimed at growing European (mostly British) settlement throughout the region in the post-Seven Years War world. According to Schwarz & Ehrenberg,

“he [Carver] left Boston and, taking Mackinac Island as a jumping-off point, explored the Wisconsin and upper Mississippi rivers as far north as the St. Francis River. Carver was the first person to refer in print to a large mountain range that was a barrier to explorers seeking the Pacific Ocean from the east, probably a reference to the Rocky Mountains.”

Naturally Carver’s discoveries interested rival powers, and this edition of his travels was issued in Paris in 1784. The text was translated from the third London edition and includes a ten-page preface encouraging interest in the region. Details on local customs, geographic information, and dictionaries for both the Ojibwa and Dakota languages are included.

In addition, the volume contains a nice example of the map of Carver’s travels through what today is Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and southern Canada. Details such as Native American villages, geographic features, and fortifications are depicted individually labeled. Accompanying annotations in French text provide further contemporary details, though the validity of Carver’s claims can be questioned in several circumstances.

Source: Wheat 175. Schwartz & Ehrenberg, p. 173.