David Thompson’s Map of Western North America ~ 84° West to the Pacific Ocean

84° West to the Pacific Ocean

Although the career and travels of David Thompson have been well documented, no comprehensive bibliography has ever been assembled of David Thompson’s cartographic work. This has led to confusion with respect to the three versions of Thompson’s manuscript maps of western North America: the first that was handed over to the NWC in June of 1814, the second map created in 1814 and found with his estate after he died in 1857 and survives at the Archives of Ontario; and the third manuscript map, created in 1816, that survives at The National Archives, Kew, England. As a result, the current literature on Thompson mistakenly treats the three manuscript maps as a single item.

This is a reproduction (at scale) of Thompson’s third manuscript map which is located at the National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, UK and is referred to as ‘A Map of North America 84° West to the Pacific Ocean’. Like the first two versions, it is a Mercator projection with a scale of three inches to one degree of Longitude and measures approximately 3.2 x 1.8 metres (126 x 74 inches). The creation of this map was likely born out of Thompson’s desire to create a commercial product. Begun in 1816 it was likely completed in 1826 between his duties with the International Boundary Commission and sold to the British Public Record Office in 1843.  A paper about David Thompson’s Manuscript Maps of Northwestern North America can be found within the Summer 2021 Issue of Prairie History. From the reproduction, a 41×69 inch image was generated and can be obtained on the Spatial Data page.