Carte Générale Des Découvertes de l’Amiral de Fonte

Striking and highly detailed fine unusual 1772 copper engraved map of the Northwest Coast, showing Joseph Nicolas de l’Isle’s conjectural northwest coast, based upon De Font and Russian Discoverers, including the Bay of the West.
 
The map shows Siberia, the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Bering Strait, the northwestern edge of North America, and a Northwest Passage. The mythical “Quivira” and Sea of the West or “Mer de l’Ouest” in North America is displayed. Shows Alaska as land discovered by the Russians in 1741 and incorrectly defines it as a small island. Includes notes and names of Native American places. Shows Hudson’s and Baffin’s Bays. Also includes discoveries and routes made by Captain Vitus Bering, Aleksei Chirikov, and Nicolas de Frondat. An inset map in the upper left corner shows the Strait of Anian or “Detroit d’Anian” along with three large islands in detail.
 
The map is part of the great mid-18th Century debate, spurred by the reports of Joseph Nicolas de l’Isle of the Russian discoveries in the region before 1750, which he obtained during his time working in St. Petersburg. The debate was fed by the maps of Buache and Jefferys, which provided radically different accounts of the coast. Ultimately, the discoveries during Cook's first voyage ended the debate. This map tracks the voyages of Tchirikow, Frondat, Bering, and other Russians during the first part of the 18th Century and credits De Fuca, d'Aguilar, and De Font with discoveries on the NW Coast. The Massive Sea of the West is drawn from Buache's model, with numerous other wide watercourses through the central continent and above the Arctic Circle, all richly annotated with source information. Most remarkable may be the seemingly blocking land mass above Lac Bernarda, seemingly advising the reader that not only is there no NW passage above that point, but that attempts to seek it will force a Northeast Passage back to the Atlantic over Russia and Scandinavia--a clear case of carto-advocacy.

Though this map was first published in 1752, this particular version was engraved and published by Heidegger in 1772 at Zürich, Switzerland.