The famous Briggs map of North America with California as an island

An important map of North America, famous for its early depiction of California as an island. It was engraved by Reynold Elstracke and accompanied Briggs' ''A Treatise on the North-West Passage to the South Sea'', in volume three of 'Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes'. It is notable for the footnote that begins: 'California sometymes supposed to be part of ye westerne continent but scince by a Spanish Charte taken by ye Hollanders it is found to be a goodly ilande...'. Henry Briggs (1561-1630), a mathematician noted for his early work on logarithms, first published his treatise in 1622, possibly with this map or a similar one. Burden writes that is 'highly feasible that the Briggs map ... was actually published earlier', making it a candidate for the first printed map to show California as an island. Certainly the Abraham Goos map of North America dated 1624 shares some English names with Briggs. Other information apparently based on the stolen Spanish map includes the first appearances of Santa Fé, named as 'Real de Nueva Mexico', San Diego and San Clemente. Away from the West Cast, other early names (potentially the first if the early publication date is accepted) include 'Hudsons bay' and 'Fretum Hudson', 'Hudson R.', 'Cape Cod' and 'De la war bay'. The Briggs map is an important development in one of the most famous cartographic myths, two years before John Speed's map was the first atlas map to show California as an island and eleven years bore Henricus Hondius put it in a Dutch atlas.