What on earth had happened? How had such a large piece of America been wrenched free? The Spanish clergyman Antonio de la Acensión played a crucial role. Two decades after sailing along the West Coast in 1602–3, Acensión began arguing in letters and books that California was an (enormous) island. It seems he wanted to extend the Gulf of California a great deal further north and so invalidate Sir Francis Drake’s claim of “Nova Albion” for England (as Acensión’s version would have had Drake landing on the island of California, rather than the mainland).
I love comparing all the old maps in this post. It's especially interesting to see how the names and locations of seas/oceans and places like Florida have shifted over time. I think my favorite...
I love comparing all the old maps in this post. It's especially interesting to see how the names and locations of seas/oceans and places like Florida have shifted over time. I think my favorite part was seeing the blank, unfinished parts where the cartographer was openly admitting "I have no idea." It would've been energizing as an explorer to open up a map like that and get that itch to trek into the blank parts for no other reason than to just to find out what's really there.
Not to gloss over the nasty stuff that comes with colonialism, imperialism, and so forth. Unfortunately the IRL explorers were in it for a bit more than just sightseeing.
I love comparing all the old maps in this post. It's especially interesting to see how the names and locations of seas/oceans and places like Florida have shifted over time. I think my favorite part was seeing the blank, unfinished parts where the cartographer was openly admitting "I have no idea." It would've been energizing as an explorer to open up a map like that and get that itch to trek into the blank parts for no other reason than to just to find out what's really there.
Not to gloss over the nasty stuff that comes with colonialism, imperialism, and so forth. Unfortunately the IRL explorers were in it for a bit more than just sightseeing.