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Extremely rare map showing the legend of the Indian explorer Moncacht-Ape and possible Asian discoveries of the west coast of North America

This map is without question one of the rarest and most fascinating maps we have ever handled. William Faden used diverse source material to produce this extraordinary map. Faden called upon French mapmakers like Phillipe Buache, Nicholas Bellin, and the Delisle family for his rendering of the Pacific Northwest and central North America. He also leaned heavily on the work of the skilled Spanish cartographer Tomás López, who is referenced in a note off the coast of California. Faden refers to López's chart of 1771, possibly denoting the little-circulated Costansó map of California, which López published in 1771. If this is indeed the map Faden is discussing, he was one of the only English geographers to have access to the document, as its movement was tightly controlled by the Spanish government.

An international cadre of explorers

Faden also turned to recent expeditions for information. He references Russian discoveries ("Behrings's Bay", "Techiricow's Land 1741") in addition to, as will be explained below, indigenous and Asian exploration. Interestingly, Faden marks "Hearn's Discoveries in 1771 and 1772" in the far north, meaning he benefited from privy information, as the Hudson's Bay Company did not release their employee, Samuel Hearn's, exploration account until 1795. Captain Cook's third voyage (1776-1780) is referenced with "Cook's Bay" in the far north and "Nootka or King George's Sound where Capt. Cook repaired in 1778" on the coast of modern Washington state. Spanish toponyms and voyages also feature prominently, reflecting the Spanish exploration expeditions that had charted the coasts for the previous century. The year 1775 is listed alongside several Spanish place names extending north from California. In that year, Bruno de Heceta and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra were sent to claim territory for Spain along the western coast of North America. After suffering an attack by the Quinault Indians and with his crew weakened by scurvy, Heceta turned back, leaving Bodega to continue north. He did so, making it far into what is now Canada, a place marked with a dashed line and the comment, "Highest Latitude of Don J. F. de la Bodega in 1775." This international cadre of explorers and their toponyms points to the intense political rivalry that surrounded the Pacific Northwest in the late-eighteenth century.

In Texas, the map shows several roads, including one identified with the years 1716 and 1717, the "Rout [sic.] of Mons De Saint Denis", and a "French Route" with the year 1689. The latter would seem to refer to the expedition of René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, which set sail from France in July 1684 in search of the mouth of the Mississippi in the hopes of starting a colony. La Salle ultimately established a settlement in Texas and is believed to have ventured as far west as the Rio Grande before turning his attention to the east, where he encountered the Hasinai, or Tejas, Indians. On another expedition to the east, his men mutinied and he was killed in an ambush by one of his followers in March 1687. The La Salle settlement was abandoned. A portion of the settlers made their way to Canada, while six remained among the East Texas Indians and were later captured by the Spaniard Alonso De León, who had led a march from San Francisco de Coahuila, now Monclova, in 1689.

The references to Mons De Saint Denis refer to Louis Antoine Juchereau de St. Denis, a French-Canadian soldier and explorer best known for his exploration and development of the Louisiana (New France) and Spanish Texas regions. Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac sent St. Denis in 1713 to travel up the Red River and establish a French outpost and fort in order to protect the boundaries of French Louisiana and to stop Spanish expansion. Late in 1713 he arrived at what is now Natchitoches and built Fort St. Jean Baptiste de Natchitoches, a trading post.

After founding Natchitoches, St. Denis traveled to the lands of the Hasinai and from there to the Rio Grande. At San Juan Bautista, Coahuila, Commander Diego Ramón placed St. Denis under house arrest. Ever resourceful, St. Denis became engaged to Ramón's step-granddaughter, Manuela Sanchez-Navarro. St. Denis was sent to Mexico City where he successfully defended himself and gained the position of commissary officer for an expedition, commanded by Ramón, which was to found Spanish missions in east Texas.

St. Denis returned to San Juan Bautista in April 1717. During his absence, the political situation had shifted due to the death of Louis XIV and the end of the War of Spanish Succession. This made French-Spanish cooperation less desirable, leaving St. Denis to return to La Louisiane. Despite the frostier political climate, the French sent St. Denis to Mexico City again, but he managed to escape being taken prisoner by the Spanish. St. Denis eventually returned to Natchitoches by February 1719. Spanish officials allowed his wife, Manuela, to join him in 1721 and they remained at the French outpost, Le Poste des Cadodaquious, on the Red River until St. Denis' death in 1744.

Another French explorer, Louis Armand, Baron de Lahontan, is mentioned in the comment just east of the dividing line between New France and the British territories, "R. Morte or R. Longue according to Lahonitan." Lahontan was a member of the aristocracy and an army officer serving in New France. In addition to, or instead of, his military duties he explored much of the upper Mississippi River Valley, including what he called the Rivière Longue, which some scholars believe was actually the Missouri River. During King William's War, Lahontan deserted his post and fled to Amsterdam and then Spain, from where he penned his memoirs which were intended to tell the English how to invade New France. Back in Amsterdam, he also wrote the three travel accounts for which he is still famous. His death date is unknown, but is sometime before 1716.

Forgotten forts

Farther north, near Lake Wimpeg [Winnipeg] and Woods Lake [Lake of the Woods], there are a series of forts that Faden marks as destroyed, including Ft. Dauphine, Ft. Maurepas, Red Ft., Queens Ft., Ft. St. Charles, and St. Peters R. Ft. Frontier forts such as these were precarious sites; they could be wiped out by a natural disaster or violence, or simply moved when fur traders found a more desirable location. Some of these forts are relatively unknown to scholars. For example, Red Ft., or Fort Rouge, is only sparingly discussed in surviving documents; historians disagree as to its actual location on the Assiniboine River. Both Fort Rouge, and Queens Fort, Fort Le Reine, were ordered built by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye. The latter structure was constructed in 1738. A fur trading post, it was also a base of exploration for explorers like Vérendrye and his four sons to the north and west. Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye, youngest son of Pierre, left from Le Reine to explore what is now Manitoba; he founded forts of his own there, including Ft. Dauphine.

Another fort Faden includes is farther north still, Ft. Churchill or Pr. of Wales on Hudson's Bay. Long an important outpost of the Hudson's Bay Company, Ft. Churchill became the object of French plans to undermine the Company in the 1780s. Three French warships sailed as part of the Hudson Bay Expedition, led by Jean-François de La Pérouse, later to come to fame for his ill-fated Pacific expedition. The French captured fort in 1782. When it was taken, the fort was protected by a meager 39 men. The fort's Governor, Samuel Hearne (who was also later to become famous for his explorations, this time in northern Canada), recognized his disadvantage and surrendered without a shot fired. The French partially destroyed the fort but it was returned to the Company in 1783. Once regained, the fort lost its place of prominence and was re-founded upriver.

The dubious voyages of Juan de Fuca and Admiral de Fonte

In addition to these real explorations and events, Faden also portrays a number of the great surviving myths and legends of the Pacific Northwest and the Trans-Mississippi West, as well as some of the great cartographic farces in the history of mapmaking.

An indentation in the Pacific Northwest is labeled "Fuca's entrance 1592." Faden is referring to Juan de Fuca, the Castilianized name of Greek navigator Ioánnis Fokás (Phokás). Little archival evidence survives of Fuca's career, but a chance meeting with an English financier, Michael Lok, in Venice in 1596 gave birth to rumors of Fuca's voyages in the Pacific. Fuca reported that he had been sent north from New Spain twice in 1592 in search of the Strait of Anian. This strait, which was presumed to double as the Northwest Passage, is also included on the map just north of Fuca's entrance. The Spanish Crown failed to reward Fuca's discovery of an opening in the coast at roughly 47° N latitude and Fuca left the Spanish service embittered. His story lived on in Lok's letters and eventually was published in Samuel Purchas' travel collection of 1625. On many eighteenth-century maps, including this one, Fuca's Strait is linked with a River or Sea of the West (see below). Only two years after this map was printed, in 1787, the present-day Juan de Fuca Strait was named by the wife of naval explorer Charles William Barkley, making permanent a label that had previously just been hopeful conjecture.

Farther north on the west coast is another label, "Rio de los Reyes according to de Fonte in 1640." Admiral de Fonte supposedly sailed to the area in the mid-seventeenth century. The first mention of Fonte appears in two letters published in London in 1708 in two issues of The Monthly Miscellany or Memoirs for the Curious. The Fonte letters had been reprinted by Arthur Dobbs in his 1744 An Account of the Countries adjoining Hudson's Bay and were mentioned in other travel accounts .

The letters recounted that Fonte had found an inlet near 53°N which led to a series of lakes. While sailing north east, Fonte eventually met with a Boston merchant ship, commanded by a Captain Shapley. One of Fonte's captains, separated from the Admiral, reported he had found no strait between the Pacific and the Davis Straits, yet had reached 79°N, helped by local indigenous peoples. This story, with its suggestion of water passages connecting the Pacific Northwest with the east, inspired hope in some and doubt in others in the mid-eighteenth century. A few, like Irish mapmaker John Green, thought the entire story a farce. Many, like French mapmakers Joseph-Nicholas Delisle and Philippe Buache, thought the information conformed neatly to other recent discoveries and included Fonte in his maps. Faden clearly agreed with Delisle.

Moncacht-Ape and Ochagach

The map reports two of the great mythical Indian explorations, including a most remarkably researched accounting of the Indian Moncacht-Ape. Moncacht-Ape (or Montcachabe) was a Yazoo Indian who was described by La Page du Pratz as having made a two year journey to the West, becoming the first person to cross the Rockies and travel to the Pacific Ocean. It was reported that he travelled up the Mississippi River to the Missouri River, then up the Missouri River to the Cances (Kansas) nation, where he was informed he would need to travel for another month (one moon) to reach the headwaters of the Missouri. With several days further travel he would find a westward flowing river which would take him to the home of the Otter Tribe. Using a dugout canoe he would ultimately float downriver (the Columbia) to the Pacific Ocean.

On the present map, there is a reference to Moncacht-Ape's ascent of the River of the West, along with several other passages mentioning Moncacht-Ape. The first, north of Quivira, notes "the nation with Long Hair of Moncachtape". The second and most curious notes:

Here the Bearded Men come from the West to cut Yellow Wood. Eleven of them were killed during the Expedition of Moncachtape (toward the end of the last Century) and from his Description they must be Japanese.

The Bearded Men were apparently referenced by the Moncacht-ape as inhabiting the area just upriver from the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, they were seen as a threat to the local Indian tribe, who received Moncacht-ape with honor. They were reportedly white skinned and had long black beards and came annually from the west in the spring to search for wood.

Another note references the Tahuglank Indians, "perhaps the last Nation of Moncachtape." At the headwaters of the Missouri River, yet another notes show the Nation of the Otters and the "Pekitama or Missouri R, whose Head is unknown and lyes very far to the West, according to the Otters." The path taken by Moncacht-Ape between the Missouri River and "the Fair River", flowing west to the Pacific, is also clearly noted.

The other Indian explorer featuring on Faden's map is Ochagach, who is mentioned in a note near the Rocky Mountains, "Mountain of Bright Stones mentioned in the Map of the Indian Ochagach." The legend of Ochagach apparently began in 1728, with the report of an Indian by the name of Ochagach who described a journey to a great lake west of Lake Superior, with a river flowing from it to the west toward the sea. The noted mapmaker Philippe Buache would ultimately report this story and create a sketch map, made by the "Savauge Ochagache" and others, which depicts a continuous water route from Lake Superior in the east, to Lac Ouimpigon (Winnepeg) and the "Fl. de l'O" (River of the West). As noted by Don McGuirk in his work on the Sea of the West, the Buache map is

. . . . important for being one of the few printed examples of manuscript Native American cartography. This second, smaller map is found above the first and is titled, "Réduction de la CARTE tracée par le Sauvage Ochagach et autres,/ laquelle a donné lieu aux Découvertes des Officiers François representées dans la Carte cy jointe."

Buache's map derives from a manuscript map and report made by French Canadian fur trader and explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye (see above). In 1727, La Verendyre was the commanding officer of Fort Kaministiquia at Thunder Bay, Lake Superior. At this time, the French were actively seeking a portage or other water course which would take them to the Sea of the West or River of the West, both of which had been described and hypothesized by French explorers of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In the winter of 1728, La Verendrye received reports from the Cree Indians of the regions to the west. One informant, a Cree Chief named Tacchigis, described a great river of the west, as well as the Missouri River Valley, persuading La Verendrye of the necessity of mounting an expedition.

In preparation for the journey, La Verendrye arranged for a Cree guide (Ochagach) to lead the expedition. Ochagach drew a map of a canoe route from Lake Superior to Lake Winnepeg, with a note referencing the River of the West at its western extremity. In the same winter, La Verendrye reported a second group of Cree Indians visiting the fort whose leader, La Marteblanche, produced a nearly identical map. La Verendrye created a composite map from these three sources which was transmitted with his report of his discoveries first to the Governor of Canada and then on to France in 1730. \

Asian discoveries of North America

To return to the Japanese, at the left side of the map, appears the note:

Kempfer (Book 1st, Chap 4th) Speaks of a Navigation of the Japanese to the East of Japan after they had been in distress for many days between the 40th and 50th Parallel the [sic.] explored at last a very large Continent that stretched a great deal further to the North West.

Directly off Breakers Pt, near Nootka, a note states, "Bahia Hermosa in Pecciolens Map of America 1604 Indicated in Sr. Hans Sloane's Japanese Map." This is a reference to a Spanish map made by Mathieu Néron Pecciolen in 1604, illustrated on Buache's and later Diderot's map showing the five configurations of California.

Further to the north, a note refers to "Foussang of the Chinese AD 458 according to Monsr. de Guignes." This note stems from the work of French Orientalist Le Guignes, who hypothesized that the Chinese arrived in the New World over a millennium before the Europeans in his 1761 work, Recherches sur les Navigations des Chinois du Cote de l'Amerique, et sur quelques Peuples situés a l'extremite orientale de l"asie. Le Guignes was named a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1752 and his work was well known across Enlightenment Europe and was even integrated into the maps of Buache, one of Faden's main sources.

All these comments indicate that Faden supported the idea that the Japanese and Chinese might have made contact with the Pacific Northwest in the past, possibly spurred by the Russian navigations across the Bering Strait earlier in the eighteenth century. Together with the references to Ochagach and Moncacht-Ape, Faden's map offers a scarcely captured phenomenon: it shows the diversity of peoples whose voyages and expeditions together revealed the geography of Western North America.

William Faden (1749-1836) was a prominent London mapmaker and publisher. He worked in close partnership with the prolific Thomas Jeffreys from 1773 to 1776. In 1783, Faden assumed ownership of the Jeffreys firm and was named Geographer to the King in the same year. Faden specialized in depictions of North America and also commanded a large stock of British county maps, which made him attractive as a partner to the Ordnance Survey; he published the first Ordnance map in 1801. The Admiralty also admired his work and acquired some of his plates which were re-issued as official naval charts. After retiring in 1823 the lucrative business passed to James Wyld, a former apprentice.

Rarity and possible origin

The current map is very rare and exists, if at all, only on microfiche or in facsimile. It differs from Faden's other maps and does not seem to have been printed in large numbers. Intriguingly, the map was referenced in a dispute over the border of Maine between Great Britain and the United States in 1843 wherein it was classed as "controversial." Perhaps the borders did not adequately portray the borders redrawn in the Treaty of 1783 and Faden, as Geographer to the King by that time, had to withdraw the publication quickly after its release.

More likely, and based on the meticulous details shown in the fur trading regions between Lake Superior and the Pacific Coast, is the prospect that the map was privately printed as part of a prospectus to raise money or otherwise promote a trading venture into the region. Specifically, in 1783-4, the Northwest Company went from a loosely-defined entity to an official company headquartered in Montreal. In 1785, when the map was published, John Meares formed the Northwest America Company from his base in India with the intention to hunt otter in the Pacific Northwest. It is possible that Faden was working for either company or for another interested party eyeing the lucrative resources of North America.

Whatever the reason, the map is extremely rare. We note that Simon Fraser University holds a photocopy of the map and the National Archives of Quebec has a microfiche image. The Indiana State Library reported owning a copy in a 1904 publication, but the survival of that copy has not been confirmed.

We know of no examples offered at auction or in dealer catalogs.