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Coast Sea

Theoretical Cartography and the Sea of the West or Mer de l’Ouest

The idea of a great inland sea occupying a vast part of the American west and opening into the Pacific attained the height of its popularity in the middle part of the 18th century under the patronage of the influential French cartographers Guillaume de l’Isle and Phillipe Buache. Under Buache and De l’Isle’s influence the Sea of the West, Mer de L’Ouest, or Baye de l’Ouest reached its fullest expression and commonly appeared on maps from about 1740 to 1790.

The source of Sea of the West, however, precedes both Buache and De l’Isle by several hundred years. The idea of a Sea of the West is intimately related to the hope of either a Northwest Passage or a River passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Such a passage was actively sought after almost from the earliest days of American Exploration. The idea had at its core the commercial interests of British and French traders who, unlike the Spanish, had no easy access to the Pacific and the rich trade with Asia.

Munster's iconic 1841 Map of America. Verrazano's Sea is seen extending from the north towards Carolina.

In it most embryonic form, the Sea of the West can be associated with Verrazano’s sea. This great sea, pictured here in Munster’s classic 1540 map of the Americas, was identified by the Italian navigator Verrazano. Sailing along North Carolina’s Outer Banks in 1524, Verrazano saw the sound on the eastern side of the isthmus and postulated that it must be the Pacific.

. . . where was found an isthmus a mile in width and about 200 long, in which, from the ship, was seen the oriental sea between the west and north. Which is the one, without doubt, which goes about the extremity of India, China and Cathay. We navigated along the said isthmus with the continual hope of finding some strait or true promontory at which the land would end toward the north in order to be able to penetrate to those blessed shores of Cathay …

This concept was taken up by various cartographers back in Europe and, subsequently, a great indentation along the western coast of America starting just north of California was a common characteristic of many early maps of the continent. Even in the 1670s, when John Lederer made his famous explorations of Virginia and North Carolina, most colonial settlers believed that the western sea was only about 10 or 15 days inland from the coast.

Nonetheless, Verrazano’s Sea was largely discredited in the late 18th century when prominent cartographers like Ortelius, Mercator, Hondius, and Blaeu removed it from their maps. It was not until the 17th century that it began to reappear on maps though reformatted to a reduced size and moved farther west.

Jansson's 1631 Map of America showing a mysterious inlet...

The next serious first hand evidence of the Sea of the West appears in the account of Juan de Fuca’s voyage along the western coast of America published by Samuel Purchas in his 1625 book Purchas His Pilgrimes. The veracity of de Fuca’s account has been the subject of significant debate over the last 100 years or so. Most argue that de Fuca’s account was fabricated by the Englishman Michael Lok to promote his own ideas of a Northwest Passage. However, we find a grain of truth in the narrative. De Fuca was supposedly a Greek Captain active in the Americas in the late 1500s. Colonial records to indicate that such a figure did in fact exist and was an active pilot in New Spain from about 1585 to 1600. De Fuca’s account does ring somewhat of truth if we assume that he actually sailed into the strait now named after him:

…until he came to the Latitude of fortie seven degrees, and that there finding that the land trended North and north-east with a broad inlet of sea, between 47 and 48 degrees of Latitude; he entered thereinto, sayling therein more than twenty days, and found that Land trending sometime North-west and North-east, and North, and also East and South-eastward, and very much broader Sea than was at the said entrance, and that he passed by divers lands in that sayling…

Regardless of any actual veracity De Fuca’s account may or may not have, what is important for our purposes is the effect this report had on European cartographers who widely trusted it. In accounting for De Fuca’s 20 days of sailing, European cartographers, began mapping a large open inlet extending well into the continent – though perhaps not so far as the 16th century Verazanno’s Sea.

Janvier's 1762 Map of North America Showing Buache's Sea

The next incarnations of the Sea of the West – and perhaps it fullest realization – came through the work of the aforementioned Guillaume de l’Isle and his brother in law Philippe Buache. In the early 17th century it became increasingly important for French and English settlers along the northeastern coasts of North America to find a passage to the Pacific in order to compete with the Spanish for the lucrative East India trade. Both nations sent out several expeditions both by sea and by river. By this time, most agreed that an Arctic route was unfeasible and instead turned their attention to the lake and river systems of the continent. Some believed they would find a river system extending westward from the Hudson Bay along the passage mapped out by Juan de Fuca. Others postulated a more southerly route through the Lake of the Woods and Lake Winnepeg. Still others believed that a route could be found by following the Missouri River.

Such was the competition to get to the Pacific that, when De l’Isle and Buache “discovered” the Sea of the West, they chose to keep it a secret for the benefit of France and never published it in any of their works. It was left up to the competing map publisher Nolin to abscond with a copy of De l’Isle’s map and publish the first Buachian “Sea of the West” map. De l’Isle subsequently filed a law suit against Nolin for copyright infringement,

Il (Nolin) a represente une Mer a l’Occident de la Louisiane, qu’il appelle Mer de l’Ouest. Cette mer estoit une de mes decouvertes, mais comme il n’est pas toujours a propos de publier ce que l’on scait, ou que 1 ‘on croit sqavoir, je n’ai pas fait graver cette Mer sur les ouvrages quej’ai rendus publics, ne voulant pas que les Etrangers profitassent de cette decouverte quelle qu’elle pft estre, avant que l’on eut reconnu dans ce Royaume si l’on en pourroit tirer quelque avantage..

Even so, the damage was done and the Sea of the West began to appear on a number of influential maps of the period.

Of course, one wonders at De l’Isle and Buache’s sources. On this we have some certain evidence and a great deal of speculation. Reports from American Indians of a salt sea far to the west were hardly uncommon in the 18th century. De l’Isle would have had access to numerous missionary reports that were, at the time, streaming into Paris from the new world. At the very least, he would have had access to the narrative of Lahonton (who heard about the Great Salt Lake from his American Indian Guides), Juan de Fuca’s legend, the De Fonte letter, the influential though possibly fabricated tale of the American Indian traveler Moncacht-Ape, as well as the explorations of Pierre de La Verendrye.

Vaugondy's 1772 Map of America Showing the Sea of the West

With so many sources and such a history, one might be tempted to ask why De l’Isle and Buache claim to have “discovered” the Sea of the West. The stems from the a cartographic approach embraced by Buache. Cartographers had the difficult job of piecing together legends, missionary reports, astronomical observations, and nautical references into a cohesive whole. It was their job to present the known world in a comprehensible manner. Even with reports from navigators and missionaries coming in from all over the world – much was unknown and much else was unreliable. In these instances cartographers resorted to a number of different strategies. Some filled the space with sketches, drawings, text or cartouches. Others simply left unknown areas blank. Some coped the speculations of other cartographers. By early 18th century, a new movement had evolved in France to address these problems, it was called “theoretical cartography”. Buache was the leading theoretical cartographer of his day. Theoretical cartography attempted to used known geographic patterns and scientific theories to fill in blank spaces when little else was known. The Mer de la Ouest is the perfect example Though a salt water inlet from the Pacific had long been speculated upon and hoped for, Buache and De l’Isle embraced the theory because it supported both the ambitions of the French crown in the New World and the theoretical geographic theory that Buache was developing.

The Sea of the West remained on map until the end of the 18th century. The late 18th century explorations of James Cook and George Vancouver finally defeated the theoretical cartographers.

http://www.geographicus.com

About the Author

Geographicus Antique Maps was founded by Kevin James Brown in 1999. We are generalist antiquarians dealing in antique maps from all over the world and in all price ranges. Our enthusiasm, passion and devotion to scholarship is expressed in our meticulously researched descriptions, among the most detailed and comprehensive available anywhere, for each and every map that passes over our desk.

http://www.geographicus.com

Have you traveled along the Black Sea coast of Turkey?

The w. coast is pretty and popular, but I am keen to explore the Black sea. What is it like? Where are the best places to stay? Please tell me a little about interesting cultural must-sees and what to avoid.

Well I don't want to sound like a prick but I do consider myself a bit of Black Sea expert. I've spent countless years in the coast while my father worked in Georgia and I loved nothing more than exploring the Black Sea (the only thing I haven't been able to do is really explore the West Black Sea Coast and any other country aside from Georgia and Turkey).

First of all if you're up for it I definitely urge you to do a trip starting from from Istanbul and going to Georgia from there. Keep in mind it's going to be a long and tiring trip and if you want to see everything you'd need at least a month. If you have less time (see one to two weeks) I think you should keep your trip to the East of the Black Coast (starting from Ordu) the part which I know best and could give you the most detailed information.

There are so many things to say I'm officially confused o where to start and how to organize my answer. I personally hate tours and always prefer to voyage on my own (on my own meaning with a few friends) and with people who know the area, getting in contact with locals as we go along.

The West side of the Black Sea coast is industrialized and very much like the inner Anatolia regions, although we hadn't spend so much time there I could easily say that there isn't much to see or do that purely touristic. Otherwise I have heard very good things about the higher mountain sides of that area which are populated by mostly immigrants and these days by a withering old population. As far as I understand these are small villages who harbor houses with interesting architecture and warm and lovely people. Let's call it a visual delight more than cultural discovery. Otherwise Zonguldak is an interesting place to be as well, being a mining town it has a lot places to visit where you'd find precious stones and watch the exploitation and construction of the city's natural resources (for example the construction of small ships near Cehennemagzi). I'd also advise you to drink a tea in either Kopuz or Uzunkum and watch the scenery around you. Otherwise Bartin would also be somewhere you'd want to check out if you're doing the West trip. It has a lot of ancient cities, notably Amasra which is a favorite for locals, so you can find ruins, castles and churches left from the Byzantine period as well. And one more thing that makes it special, it has the best place in the Turkish black sea coast where you could wade in the sea freely and without problems (usual problems being unsanitary conditions and lack of beaches due to the construction of the highway). I'd also like to mention Sinop which in my opinion is not a city to miss but you can make that trip on a later date independently from a Black Sea coast tour. There are a lot of things to see and do in Sinop starting from the historically important Sinop cezaevi not only is it a historic ford constructed on a peninsula (the Turkish Alcatraz if you will) but has been the temporary home of famous people such as Sabahattin Ali, Nazim Hikmet. You can also stand on the most Northern part of Turkey in Inceburun. There are also a few number of world renown natural sites (waterfalls, rock formation) that aren't all that popular but shouldn't be missed. I kinda forgot their name but I'll be sure to add the names if I remember.

I honestly believe you could die without ever seeing Samsun, if you're willing to spend some time there it has a lot of interesting places to see but it's definitely not the greatest city in Turkey. As a city it's unfortunately complicated and not the best city to be able to walk around. But as you may know already it has been an important part in many Empire's and civilization's history, so you'll find many historical buildings and sites (there's a mosque built in the 13th century notably, Pazar Camii).

After Samsun starts one of the most beautiful areas in the world. Beginning with Ordu and Giresun which are quite similar and all have incredibly charming seaside towns (Tirebolu in Giresun especially, there's a lovely pideci in the center area). There a lot of beautiful pansions you can stay in in Ordu, and there's a Byzantine monastery in Giresun which was closed when we were there (it was a Monday), it's still in pretty good shape. Honestly you shouldn't linger too much in this area, I'd say look at it as a rest stop where you'd spend the night and watch the scenery. I mean that these are wonderful stops to rest but you wouldn't want to keep your time to this area, there are a lot more things to see and do.

David Lee Roth - Yankee Rose

Tags: coast seafood, coast seafood charleston sc, coast seafood plano, coast seafood restaurant, coast seafood usa, science, sea, tides, uk, weather

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