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This 1758 copper-engraved map presents a stylized view of the Western Hemisphere with a distinctively skewed orientation: the longitudinal and latitudinal grid runs at an oblique angle, giving the Americas a dramatically slanted appearance.
The depiction of the Americas is compressed longitudinally and stretched along an exaggerated north-south axis. This distortion reflects the intention of the map to illustrate the greatest “diametrical length” across the New World, a measurement not strictly geographic but symbolic—perhaps meant to emphasize imperial reach or conceptual magnitude.
In North America, the map includes a number of colonial and indigenous regions: “Virginia,” “Mexico or New Spain,” and “Hudsons Bay” are noted, alongside tribal groups like the “Iroquois" and “Apaches.” The cartographer omits the Pacific Northwest coastline entirely, substituting in its place a speculative Northwest Passage composed of a network of rivers and lakes leading westward from Hudson Bay—indicative of prevailing European hopes of finding a water route through the continent.
In South America, major regions such as “Peru,” “Chile,” and “Paraguay” are labeled, along with significant rivers like the Amazon and the Rio de la Plata. A few indigenous groups and missions appear inland, while coastlines are generally more accurately depicted than interior regions. The Andes are faintly suggested through place names rather than cartographic relief.
John Gibson flourished in London from 1748 to 1773. He was most likely born ca. 1724. As a young man he was apprenticed to John Blunbell of the Stationers Company, and then to John Pine. He was made free of the Company in 1748. Gibson proved a talented geographer and engraver who produced numerous maps, especially for books and magazines. He worked in collaboration with other map sellers such as Emanuel Bowen and John Roque. His best-known work was the pocket atlas, The Atlas Minimus (1758). Although little is known about his life beyond his publications, he was imprisoned for debt in King’s Bench from May to June of 1765.
