This large finely engraved beautifully hand coloured original antique 1st edition map of the Colonial United States United States was engraved in 1756 - dated - and was published by the Homann firm.
This is a wonderful and important map with beautiful hand colour, a dark impression on heavy sturdy paper. This map is the 1st edition and was reprinted with political changes in 5 different editions until the 1790's

This is an important, informative and interesting map of colonial North America at the outset of the French & Indian War. The map is incredibly detailed with historical text on British and French claims in North America as well as cartographical details on cities, towns, rivers, Indian settlements and many other features.
Cartographically the map shows both the British and French possessions but from the British perspective. The map is based on the cartography of both J B D' Anville & Thomas Jefferys', using the latters map of 1755 for the political boundaries.
Some of the interesting features include, a truncated Pennsylvania and oversized Virginia, as well as the massive stretch of land in North Carolina designated Earl Granville's property, which extends to the Mississippi. Also shown is a very early Georgia, chartered in 1754.The boundary of New York crosses Lakes Ontario, Huron and Erie to include the lower peninsula of Michigan.
The map is beautifully adorned with a large rococo cartouche and the extensive text in German, describes the British claims and French encroachments, that led to the inevitable conflict.

The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war. In Canada, it is usually just referred to as the Seven Years' War, although French Canadians often call it La guerre de la Conquête ("The War of Conquest"). In Europe, there is no specific name for the North American part of the war. The name refers to the two main enemies of the British colonists: the royal French forces and the various Native American forces allied with them, although Great Britain also had Native allies.
The war was fought primarily along the frontiers separating New France from the British colonies from Virginia to Nova Scotia, and began with a dispute over the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, the site of present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The dispute erupted into violence in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in May 1754, during which Virginia militiamen under the command of George Washington ambushed a French patrol. British operations in 1755, 1756 and 1757 in the frontier areas of Pennsylvania and New York all failed, due to a combination of poor management, internal divisions, and effective French and Indian offense. The 1755 capture of Fort Beauséjour on the border separating Nova Scotia from Acadia was followed by a British policy of deportation of its French inhabitants, to which there was some resistance.
After the disastrous 1757 British campaigns (resulting in a failed expedition against Louisbourg and the Siege of Fort William Henry, which was followed by significant atrocities on British victims by Indians), the British government fell, and William Pitt came to power. Pitt significantly increased British military resources in the colonies, while France was unwilling to risk large convoys to aid the limited forces it had in New France, preferring instead to concentrate its forces against Prussia and its allies in the European theatre of the war. Between 1758 and 1760, the British military successfully penetrated the heartland of New France, with Montreal finally falling in September 1760.
The outcome was one of the most significant developments in a century of Anglo-French conflict. France ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to its ally Spain in compensation for Spain's loss to Britain of Florida (which Spain had given to Britain in exchange for the return of Havana, Cuba). France's colonial presence north of the Caribbean was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, confirming Britain's position as the dominant colonial power in the eastern half of North America. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original & later
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 23 1/2in x 20in (600mm x 510mm)
Plate size: - 20 1/2in x 18 3/4in (520mm x 475mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light spotting
Plate area: - Two small tears rejoined at bottom of map, no loss
Verso: - Discolouration to bottom rear margin not affecting the front of map

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