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Description

An edition of the archetype 18th-century map of Montreal, published at the outset of the French & Indian War (or Seven Years' War).

This fine town plan of Montreal shows the city during the French & Indian War (or Seven Years' War). The major features of the walled city are labeled, including the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, the Governor's Palace, as well as numerous ecclesiastical institutions.

Montreal was located on the site of the Algonquin native town, Hochelaga, and was visited by Jacques Cartier in 1541. In 1643, the Sieur de Massoneuve founded Ville-Marie (later called Montreal), which strategically lay at the head of navigation of the St. Lawrence River. Over the proceeding century the city grew to become the base of the 'Couriers du Bois', the French fur traders and explorers who where the first Europeans to chart most of the interior of North America.

Montreal, as the second city of New France, was a prime British target during the French & Indian War. When Quebec City fell to the British in the Fall of 1759, Montreal became the de facto capital of New France. However, its fate was already sealed, for it was cut off from supplies coming from France, owing the enemy control the St. Lawrence estuary.

In September 1760, British General Sir Jeffrey Amherst led a force form New York, which captured the city, definitively ending the war in North America.

The present map, in its various editions, was one of the most popular of all plans of North American cities produced during the second half of the 18th-century. Derived from French sources, it was first printed by Thomas Jefferys in 1758. The present edition was published as part of the issue of the Universal Magazine, of November 1759, so as to accompany the news of Amherst's victory..