A scarce map of New England at the start of the Seven Years’ War

An uncommon map, showing Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and the 'Province of Maine', and Upper New York State, also naming Quebec and Montreal. Published as the Seven Years' War began, the map also shows a red line, marked 'The French claim all Northwest of this line'. This includes New York north of Port Nicolson (now Fort Edward) and half of what is new Vermont. At the end of the war the line formed the basis of the 'Proclamation Line of 1763', an attempt by the British government to establish a boundary between their colonies and the lands of the Native Americans to avoid further conflict. The colonists' opposition to this restraint was a major cause of the American Revolution. The map was engraved for 'A New and Complete History of the British Empire in America' (1756), a work issued in parts but never finished, accounting for its scarcity.