”One of the most important maps of America ever produced”

A landmark map of Virginia, orientated with north to the right, it shows the area around Chesapeake Bay, with an inset of the chief Powhatan (Tsenacommacah) holding council and the figure of a Sasquesahanough warrior, both based on drawings by John White. John Smith commissioned William Hole to engrave the map in 1612 to illustrate a pamphlet to raise support for the Virginia Colony. Soon after he left on an expedition to New England, and the map was not republished until 1624, when it appeared in his 'The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles'. The following year it was issued in the fourth volume of 'Purchase his Pilgrimes', with the pagination 1692 & 1693, as this example. Smith's map was hugely influential, with copies published in the Mercator, Blaeu, Merian and Speed atlases. As the earliest detailed map of the region it is still an important resource for historians.