1. In this particular map, we can see that what was then
considered California is portrayed as a massive island, detached from the
western coast of America. The map is laid out in a grid pattern with some sort
of measuring device in the bottom left corner of the map. One thing that caught
my attention was the fact that the further north you went on the map, the less
writing and detail there was. This leads me to believe that the cartographers
focused more on the southern parts of this area. On what would be the mainland
of this map, there are a lot of mountainous regions. This could possibly be the
cartographer’s interpretation of the Rocky Mountain range. From what I can tell
it also appears that the map is written in Latin.
2. From what this map shows there are a lot of things it
portrays about America at this time period. For example, seeing as how
'California' is completely detached from the continental America, this tells us
that there was a lot left unknown and unfound. The cartographers at this time
had an enormous job to handle in the new world. Everything they found and
mapped out had never been cataloged before. Because of this there were mistakes
made and fairly significant ones at that. This map tells of how unknown
everything was at that time and how the Europeans portrayed America at the time.
3. In Valerie Babb’s article, Crafting Whiteness in America, she states, “What this map displays
is a land that is not yet English, one still the domain of its native peoples.”
This directly relates to the map that I have chosen to analyze. The reason for
this is because there is no depiction of any English or European influence
other than the Latin words used for labeling.
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