New Map of Georgia, Amsterdam, for I. F. Bernard, 1737.

New Map of Georgia, Amsterdam, for I. F. Bernard, 1737.

The first printed map of colonial Georgia, it appeared in two states or versions. The map shown above is a contemporary reproduction and enlargement of the second state. Benjamin Martyn as secretary to the Trustees of Georgia published two pamphlets that included these maps. The first imprint appeared in the 1732 Some Account of the Designs of the Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia in America and the second in the 1733 Reasons for Establishing the Colony of Georgia . . . Historical geographer Louis De Vorsey noted several changes in the two versions and believes that James Oglethorpe possibly altered the map to make the region appear less warlike to potential settlers. In the second version, Spanish St. Augustine is located about 70 miles too far to the south and outside of the territory claimed by England. Also omitted from the second state are two prominent inscriptions dealing with Indians and war. Along a trail that follows the Chattahoochee River from central Georgia down into central Florida is written, “the Road of Ochese going to war” and in large letters across the southern portion of the Florida peninsula appears, “Here the Carolina India[ns] leave their Canoes when they war with the Floridians.” Oglethorpe and the trustees, who were seeking colonists from the continent, did not want such descriptions on the Georgia maps being reprinted in European cities, such as this version from Amsterdam.

1733