Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Map of the Magdalen Islands - 1765


The drawing of this map was ordered by Samuel Johannes Holland, and officer, surveyor and a politician who had been born in the Lower Country in 1728 and had immigrated to England in 1754. In 1756, Holland went to America where he rapidly learned his engineering talents under General Wolfe, during the attacks on Fort Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island and then again on the Plains of Abraham while in battle.

He would later be named general surveyor for the colonies. A while after that, he was given charge of the affairs of British possessions in the district of the Northern America, starting with the island of Saint-Jean (PEI), Magdalen Islands and Cape Breton, because of the importance of the fishing industries within the regions. Holland died at Quebec, in 1801.

The map of the islands was used in 1798, to established the contract of concession between the King George III represented by Lord Dorchester and Isaac Coffin. The map was clearly drawn by Frederic Haldimand in 1765, for Holland. This map was elsewhere annexed under the original contract accorded to Coffin and may be consulted at the Quebec National Archives.

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