18th Century Bellin showing the St. Lawrence River

With a hat-tip to the Map Room Blog I wanted to just write a short bit about a gorgeous map that they wrote about. It's an 18th Century Bellin showing the St. Lawrence River on three sheets. Here they are:

These are gorgeous maps, and can all be viewed in greater detail here.

I don't have much information beyond what the Map Room has provided as to information on the provenance of these maps. I'll content myself with pointing out a few little details that I enjoy.

I always love depictions of Montreal. Here, the island is named with just the settlement of Ville Marie shown. The city of Laval does not appear on the map, with only the name of Isle Jesus. Many of Montreal's suburbs are named here, including Longueil and Boucherville.



Quebec, the modern province through which the river flows, and the city it flows past is inconsistently named. In some places it's spelled the modern way: Quebec, in others, including the map title, it's Quebek. I'm not sure what accounts for this difference.





There are some great place names on this map. Two that stand out to me: Pot à l'Eau-de-Vie (Brandy Pot) and Mille Vaches (a Thousand Cows).





This is a gorgeous map with historic significance and it's clear why it belongs in Quebec's archives. Looking at it though, I am reminded of this other great map of the St. Lawrence, probably made just a few years later. It's hard to say which I like more. It's also interesting to compare these Bellin maps to this collection of other maps of his of the same region. the comparison in level of detail and focus is interesting.