This 1764 map of the Great Lakes region was drawn by a man who had never set foot in North America.
How is it possible?
This work by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, hydrographer to the French king at the time, is the result of information from numerous sources.
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This satellite map shows the precision achieved by the Bellin cartographer.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Google Maps
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, a professional cartographer, never left France for expeditions. According to Alban Berson, map librarian at the Library and National Archives of Quebec (BAnQ), it is possible that he never left Paris.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, a cabinet cartographer, collects and synthesizes the information that seems most reliable to him, unlike a field cartographer who makes measurements with his astrolab, explains Alban Berson.
Since the cartographer worked in Paris in the service of the king, he received a lot of information, so that documents from all the seas of the world reached him.
Although his maps are created in his Paris office, Jacques-Nicolas Bellin is the primary source for French sailors using the St. Lawrence River in New France. They leave France with the most current map and make corrections if necessary. The cartographer then updated his reference map.
“We are correcting it and providing clarification along the way,” explains Mr Berson. He points out that at that time a probe was used to determine the depth of water around islands, reefs and coastlines.
The main goal is safe navigation.
A work inspired by Charlevoix and Cavelier de La Salle
To map the Great Lakes region, Jacques-Nicolas Bellin has to do things a little differently because his maps are less current.
He relies primarily on two sources: the Jesuit explorer Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix and Cavelier de La Salle, who was one of the first Frenchmen to explore North American territory.
At the time, the French had a 1670s map of the area with information provided by a descendant of Cavalier de La Salle. The map at the time called the Great Lakes region the Outaouais Land, evoking the name of the First Nation with which, according to Alban Berson, the French had trade relations.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin based his work on the diary of Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix – a work that he admires but does not hesitate to correct – especially with regard to positioning errors. To correct errors, he uses Cavalier de La Salle's manuscript and information from other sailors who made the voyage.
The famous cartographer also wrote the preface to the Charlevoix manuscript on New France. We can read: everywhere, with the compass in his hand, he noted the main deposits from point to point, whenever the weather permitted, he observed the height of the pole. He estimated the distances from one place to another as accurately as possible. Finally, he did not miss anything that could be useful to the knowledge of this country.
Alban Berson notes that Jacques-Nicolas Bellin also used other unspecified sources to map the region. The discovery of the use of these unknown sources is new and the result of the work of Professor Jean-François Palomino at the University of Quebec in Montreal.
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Map librarians Jean-François Palomino (left) and Alban Berson (right) examine a map. (archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada
These sources include a map by Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry fils, which particularly describes an alleged discovery of elephant bones. A map by Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry père for the Lake Ontario region and a half-century-old map by Jean Baptiste Louis Franquelin, based on indigenous information and Coursers des Bois.
Although the map is remarkably precise for a region that was little explored at the time, it has certain inaccuracies: we see in particular the islands of Philippeaux and Pontchartrain in Lake Superior, islands that do not exist. However, such was the influence of 18th-century cartographers that the non-existent Philippeaux Island was ceded by Great Britain to the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.
Cartography in the 18th century
In the 17th century, the French used cartography to ensure the navigation of their ships.
At that time, cartography was not so much purely scientific as it was useful.
The maps capture minute details of the river and Great Lakes, such as the banks and the currents and tributaries in New France.
The English, in turn, used cartography for demographic purposes.
Indigenous knowledge
Among Aboriginal people, knowledge of the territory was passed down more orally, but when maps were made they were often drawn on the ground or on biodegradable materials such as birch bark.
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Robert-Falcon Ouellette, professor at the University of Ottawa (archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Mario De Ciccio
The main reason for creating physical maps was related to hunting or bartering with Europeans, explains Robert-Falcon Ouellette, a professor at the University of Ottawa.
In oral history, Aboriginal people describe in detail geographical markers such as rivers and mountains, their knowledge of the territory, and the positioning of stars in the sky.
In indigenous stories, people often describe the number of days they must travel to reach their destination. [les histoires] often point out the different geographical elements they see, explains Professor Ouellette.
Europeans rely on the knowledge of indigenous people, notes Alban Berson. They question the natives, then they trust them, explains the cartographer.
“The Aborigines understood the concept of European cartography very quickly,” concludes Alban Berson.
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For the Aborigines, knowledge of the territory is even more important, as being on the territory of an enemy nation can have fatal consequences.
If you go in the wrong direction, you can lose a lot of time or even your life. If you're a Plains Cree and you go into Blackfoot territory – that's certain death – the same goes for the explorers who might have accompanied you, explains Mr. Ouellette, who is himself of Cree descent.