New-York tribune., 1909-09-25
EARLY AMERICAN MAPS
BEFORE HUDSON DfI.
Geographical Knosoledgt Of This
Continent Has Vaguc, Innc-
curatc dnd Grotesquc.

Vi e. the date or Hudson's discovery ami ~
piur:,tion of tho Hudson River geographers had
only slight and inaccurate information upon
which To- bas. their knowledge and maps OF the
New World. European civilization had made
oniy an exceedingly slight impression upon this
continent When tho seventeenth century
opened European acauaintan"" with North and
South America, With few exceptions was con
fined almost exclusively 10 the coast
Between the advent 81 the Morse vikings to
the New England oast about The year 1000 and
Sir Francis brakes voyage 10 the Pacific in
1879 navigators nf various nationalities had. in
81 general Way, followed the continental borders
from Baninland dnwn along Labrador, Nova
Scotia the eastern part Of tn" nited States
the couutrie5 eaeiua the Gun % Mexico and tn.
Caribbean Sea and the EASTERN coast OF SOUTH
America, passed through the Strait or Ma
gellan and gon. up the western side of South
America ANA North America as far as Or"s"n.
But notwithstanding ,hs. European knowledge
Of American geography was rudimcntary in the
extreme. n tho first place on most of these
voyagys ,he coast was touched only a. long in
teryais, and knoAn only in it, most prominent
FEATURES. Details mad been examined sparsely.
Precise observations of latitud" and longitude
aud "xnct surveys The foundation Of accurate
map making, we're not possible in that day be
cause oc the crude Instrument used in naviga-
ti"u ana tho correspondnely undeveloped state
of marine science. II was also an age when, by
reason oe national rivalries explorers did not
freely discios their discoveries to the world at
large. This made difficulty IN colating com
pairing and correcting the observation az the
different foreign navigators.
MAPS TOLD LITTLE
All that Hudson had to depend upon il the
say of maps were imperfect incomplet. and
from the standpoint Of present knowledge dis
torted to absurd degree. The country be
tween the outlines which served the map maxi
ers was almost wholly unknown The French
had penetrated Canada u, the St Lawrence u
f;r as Montreal, and Quebec had been founded
IN 1908. A French settlement had been planned
port Royal Nova Scotia but it was abaQ-
doned in 1897.
one or two % the larger rivers of Maine had
been uavigated for n short distance above their
mouths The English had settled at the mouth
"f the K@unebeo bat had left there in 1905
While IN" Hudson had been entered so general
tnovle'lg" regarding the cxtent Of the river
the nature of tho country through which il rar
q, - ia" natives aud the natural resources vas
ir existence
In the james RIVER tn. English had explored
g. far as the falls at Richmond The first per
raient English speaking colony In america hae
been established at jamestown, Va, in 1907
In the following year captain John Smith hat
made : complete and minute exploration Of
Chesapeake Bay. He had drawn & map whicl
was notable for its accuracy and completeness
but this map not published until 1872 three
years after Hudson visited what was 10 becoln.
Nov Netherlands
Prom Virginia t. IN. south stretched huu-
csods a ,,'l"s az coast about which general ig-