I found this map extremely intriguing because of the layout and small details included in it. The little details throughout the map allow it to become so much more than a map of the Americas; it almost becomes a story as those looking at it can tell what types of people inhabit the land and what will become of it.
The main focus of the map is the actual land which is in the very center of the whole layout. This reveals the idea that the new land was extremely important to whoever made the map. In the waters, there are numerous ships with different countries’ flags which indicate that there are settlers or explorers navigating their way through the oceans to settle on the new land. To me, it almost looks as if these ships were in a race to reach the new land. Along with the many boats, sea monsters dwell in the waters showing viewers the dangers of the unknown. Furthermore, pairs of Native Americans border the map expressing the fact that this land is “not yet English, one still the domain of its native peoples,” as Valerie Baab said in Crafting Whiteness in America. This map and quotation from Baab exceedingly represent the idea of multiple countries surrounding a land of primitive people and slowly enclosing in on their land.
