America explored: a cartographical history of the exploration of North America

Abstract

"One of the most exciting stories, never before told as explicitly and as beautifully as here, is that of the discovery, and the ultimate exploration, of North America. In more than 350 illustrations, many of which are large full-color facsimiles of early maps, and in Adrian Johnson's authoritative text, the progression from the first Viking voyages through the explorations of Columbus, Ponce de León, Verrazzano, Gomez, Drake, Raleigh, Champlain, Jolliet, La Salle, Marquette, and numerous others, to the nineteenth-century expeditions of Lewis and Clark, Pike, Ashley, Smith, Frémont and the Mormons, is fascinatingly traced. The marvelously detailed ornamental maps (showing, incidentally, the progressive precision of the mapmaker's science) reveal our ancestors' increasing awareness of the new continent. Early environmental drawings, supplemented by drawings of the wild terrain made by or from the accounts of the explorers themselves, round out this coast-to-coast story and bring it most vividly to life."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Landfalls and exploration of the North American coastline by European sailors -- The first attempts to penetrate and colonize North America -- The European penetration into the interior of the North American continent -- The American expeditions to the west (1803-1952) and their influence on the mapping of North America.