Partie De L'Amerique Septentrionale, qui comprend Le Cours De L'Ohio, La N.lle Angleterre, La Nlle York ...

Highly detailed map of North America.

This map by Vaugondy fully illustrates the flow of the Ohio River from New York and Pennsylvania to its junction with the Mississippi River. Its significance lies in the events that this region witnessed around the period of its publication. In 1754, a year before the release of its first state, the French built Fort Duquesne, a landmark in the Ohio Valley, which became the main battleground of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) between the French and the British. This map depicts this fort as "F. du Quene", showing its strategic position in the territory where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio River.

The French valued the power of this location and prevented the expansion of British lands into the valley. However, this did not last long. In the spring of 1754, George Washington led an expedition with 300 men from Virginia. After a successful ambush against a French campsite of about 30 Frenchmen and their commander, Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville, the British managed to capture the fort in May. The French allied with Indians and fought the British back, it was until 1758 that the British took complete power over Fort Duquesne, and established Fort Pitt on the site.

With extraordinary detail, this map extends from Montreal and Lake Huron in the north to Carolina in the south, and from Illinois and Louisiana in the west to display the East coast all the way down till Brunswick. A supplement map of Carolina had been added in the top left corner.

References: 

Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766. New York: Vintage Books, 2000.

Clary, David A. George Washington’s First War: His Early Military Adventures. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011.

Cubbison, Douglas R. The British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania, 1758: A Military History of the Forbes Campaign Against Fort Duquesne. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2010.

Dundore, Alison. Fort Duquesne. George Washington University, 2023.