“A New Map of the English Empire in America viz Virginia Mary Land Carolina Pennsylvania . . . &c by Robert Morden. ca. 1695. Sold by Robert Morden at the Atlas in Cornhill and by Christopher Brown at ye Globe near the West End of St. Paul’s Church. London: I. Harris, sculp.”

“A New Map of the English Empire in America viz Virginia Mary Land Carolina Pennsylvania . . . &c by Robert Morden. ca. 1695. Sold by Robert Morden at the Atlas in Cornhill and by Christopher Brown at ye Globe near the West End of St. Paul’s Church. London: I. Harris, sculp.”

The title of English Empire in America reflects its 1695 publication date, almost a decade before the Acts of Union of England and Scotland (1706 & 1707) that created the Kingdom of Great Britain and the British Empire. Even so, John Senex republished this map with minor changes in 1717 and retained the title English Empire.

The most unique feature of this map is its fanciful mountain ranges, which resemble an irregular four-armed starfish with its body in western North Carolina. Extending northeasterly from there, the “Apalitean Mountains” become scattered as they reach southern Pennsylvania. Another range extends directly west across what becomes Tennessee to the Mississippi River. The northern arm reaches all the way to the tip of the southern peninsular of Michigan and is labeled: “On the top of these mountains is a Plaine like a Terras Walk aboue 200 miles in length.” The southern arm extends deep into Florida and presents a mountain range as the watershed divide on that flat peninsular. The most accurate details relate to the coastal regions. It includes information about rivers and settlements in the Carolinas but not in the area destined to become Georgia.

1695