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John Senex: A New Map of America From the latest Observations . . . (California shown as an Island)
Title: A New Map of America From the latest Observations . . . (California shown as an Island) Map Maker: John Senex
Description: Nice example of John Senex's map of America. Senex's map is curious for several reasons. First, unlike most maps of the period, Senex adds a conjectural Northwest Coastline, which includes a number of islands and several lakes, including Aquinonbock, Lake of Isles and the The Great Lake of Thoago or Thoya. On the coastline, Desolation and Zapozipin Bays appear north of 60 degrees. Two other remarkable features in Senex's map includes the odd unnamed river with its headwaters in the Florida panhandle and the unique shape of South America. Remarkably, this is one of the few English Language maps to show California as an island, appearing after Kino's location of the headwaters of the Colorado debunked the insular myth. It is indeed curious that despite noting the islands and other features along the Northwest coast, Wagner gives no real explanation of the source of the information, which certainly predates the Russian discoveries and information furnished by Joseph De L'Isle and Philippe Buache. The only other appearance of this odd coastline would appear to be in the 1703 edition of Peter Heylyn's Cosmography. Mead Cain wrote in TMC 57 that the source of the map was Robert Morden. Both maps include the odd coastline and apophrycal river rising from the Florida Panhandle. The river rising from the Florida Panhandle is oddly lacking on Senex's edition of the Browne map. References: McLaughlin 193, Tooley #81. Wagner #520.
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