Bowles's New Pocket Map of the World, laid down from the latest observations and comprehending the New Discoveries to the present Time, particularly those lately made in the Southern Seas By Byron, Wallis, Cook, Bougainville, and others.

1780 Bowles Map of the World in Two Hemispheres

Publication Date: 1780

About this Item

Very good. Light wear along original centerfold. Small area of infill in upper left corner below illustration of Europe. Margin infill to upper left corner. Size 15.25 x 28.25 Inches. This is the 1780 Carington Bowles double hemisphere map of the world. Divided into the 'Western Hemisphere or the New World' and the 'Eastern Hemisphere of the Old World', Bowles illustrates the age of exploration and discovery. A Closer Look The Old World appears much as one would expect. Europe's major powers are illustrated in some detail, with capitals and other major cities identified. Africa is a contradiction since its coastline had been relatively well mapped, but the interior remained relatively unknown. Bowles thus leaves Africa mostly blank, absent of illustrations and conjecture. Personifications of the four continents occupy the corners, with Europe appearing as a well-dressed noble astride a horse, and the illustrations for America, Asia, and Africa emphasizing exoticism. Asia Intriguing cartography abounds in Asia. A reasonably accurate mapping of the East Indies underlines their continued importance to international trade. Dashed lines trace the routes of Anson, Bougainville, and Cook across the Indian Ocean, through the East Indies and the Philippines, and east into the Pacific. De Gama Land Also of interest is Bowles' mapping of 'the Companies' Land' of Terre de Compagnie, just to the south of Siberia, also known as Gamaland. Gama or Gamaland was supposedly discovered in the 17th century by a mysterious figure known as Jean de Gama. Various subsequent navigators claim to have seen this land, but it was left to Bering to finally debunk the myth. In 1729, he sailed for three days looking for Juan de Gama Land but never found it. At times it was associated with Hokkaido, in Japan, and at other times with the mainland of North America. Bowen clearly does not give up on the idea. The truth of Gama is most likely little more than a misinterpretation of the Aleutian Archipelago as a single body of land. It continued to appear in maps for about fifty years following the Bering's voyages until the explorations of Cook confirmed the findings. Hokkaido The mapping of Hokkaido (here identified as Yedso) joined to Sakhalin refers to the cartography of Maerten de Vries and Cornelis Jansz Coen, who explored this land in 1643 in search of the gold and silver-rich islands mentioned in a Spanish legend. Vries and Coen were the first Europeans to enter these waters, which were little known even to the Japanese. They mapped the Strait of Vries and they believed this strait to separate Asia from America, of which Compagnies Land formed part, thus elucidating its magnificent proportions. They were also the first European navigators to discover Sakhalin and map its southern coastline. Apparently, the Castricum was mired in a heavy fog as it attempted to explore these seas and thus Vries and Coen failed to notice the strait separating Yedo (Hokkaido) from Sakhalin, initiating a cartographic error that would persist well into the 18th century. Despite their many successes, the expedition ultimately failed to discover islands of silver and gold, thus proving definitively to Van Diemen that indeed, no such lands ever existed. North America The English Colonies (which were fighting the American Revolutionary War at the time) the colonies of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida all stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River reflecting this historical coast-to-coast charters. New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland appear as well. Canada is concentrated around the St. Lawrence River, but reflects claims to Great Lakes. Louisiana lacks defined borders. New Mexico is contained within Louisiana with dotted borders akin to those separating the rebellious American colonies. An intriguing inlet along the west coast of North America, potentially illustrates the Columbia River underscores the European.

Seller Inventory # WorldHemispheres-bowles-1780

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Bowles's New Pocket Map of the World, laid down from the latest observations and comprehending the New Discoveries to the present Time, particularly those lately made in the Southern Seas By Byron, Wallis, Cook, Bougainville, and others.
• Publication Date: 1780
• Seller catalogs:
  • WORLD-MAPS