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Ontario History
Toronto’s Cartographic Birth Certificate Hiding in Plain Sight for 350 Years Rick Laprairie
Volume 110, Number 2, Fall 2018 Article abstract This article posits that the earliest map to have ever used the name Toronto as a URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1053510ar place is uncovered. Previously unnoticed, the name “Tarontos Lac,” for today’s DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1053510ar Lake Simcoe, is on a 1678 map by Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin. His map, “Carte pour servir a l’eclaircissement du Papier Terrier de la Nouvelle France,” is See table of contents now recognized as Toronto’s cartographic birth certificate. The article describes the map, discusses how the discovery came about and why the name may have gone unnoticed until now. This cartographic study is set in the history of the Publisher(s) exploration of the Great Lakes region and the Mississippi River. Three other unsigned and undated period maps, often claimed as “Toronto” firsts, are also The Ontario Historical Society examined. These claims are dismissed, as revised attributions show them to have been by different cartographers and dated later than originally thought, making ISSN Franquelin’s map the oldest. The cartographic genealogy of the name Toronto is traced back through three and a half centuries to its initial appearance on 0030-2953 (print) Franquelin’s map. 2371-4654 (digital)
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Cite this article Laprairie, R. (2018). Toronto’s Cartographic Birth Certificate: Hiding in Plain Sight for 350 Years. Ontario History, 110(2), 152–175. https://doi.org/10.7202/1053510ar
Copyright © The Ontario Historical Society, 2018 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/
This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ 152 ONTARIO HISTORY
oronto’s Cartographic TBirth Certificate Hiding in Plain Sight for 350 Years
By Rick Laprairie
recent find has uncovered the might serve to illustrate the cartographic first map to use the name To- evolution of Toronto’s appearance on Aronto, in any of its various early maps. This particular map was of interest spellings, as a place name. The map is an since part of it covered the geography in unusual, but not unknown, 1678 work by question, and its date of production co- Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin, which incided with other maps thought to be serves as a land titles record. It is entitled, among the earliest to include the name. Carte pour servir a l’eclaircissement du Pa- Unfortunately, no readily available pier Terrier de la Nouvelle France, [Map copies of this map were of sufficient reso- serving to clarify the Land Registry in lution to accurately decipher all the place New France], (Map 1). Surprisingly, the names on it. Attempts to magnify images name “Tarontos Lac” on the map, for to- of it proved unsuccessful. The best results day’s Lake Simcoe, has gone unnoticed showed blurred text which looked like it and undocumented for almost three and might be the name Toronto, but were a half centuries (Map Segment 1). insufficient to allow for confirmation. Franquelin, born in France in 1651, Finally, succumbing to curiosity, a high was a cartographer in New France who resolution electronic copy of the original was commissioned in 1687 as the King’s map was ordered from its Parisian reposi- hydrographer at Quebec. His map plots tory. Within a few days, a message con- names of landowners whose properties taining the requested map was received, were arranged in long narrow strips of and from the downloaded image there land called “seigneureries” or fiefs, front- appeared on the monitor a piece of To- ing the St. Lawrence River. “Tarontos ronto’s history that amazingly had been Lac” appears quite unassumingly in the overlooked for more than three centu- south-western corner of the map. The au- ries. thor made this find while compiling a list But how is it that the name which of early maps of the Great Lakes which this map carries, despite being under our Ontario History / Volume CX, No. 2 / Autumn 2018 t0r0nto’s cartographic birth certificate 153 noses for so long, has escaped us until now? And what of other ear- Abstract lier maps commonly This article posits that the earliest map to have ever used the name cited as the first ones Toronto as a place is uncovered. Previously unnoticed, the name “Tarontos Lac,” for today’s Lake Simcoe, is on a 1678 map by on which the name Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin. His map, “Carte pour servir a To r o nt o a p p e a r s ? To l’eclaircissement du Papier Terrier de la Nouvelle France,” is now shed some light on recognized as Toronto’s cartographic birth certificate. The article these questions this ar- describes the map, discusses how the discovery came about and why ticle looks at the very the name may have gone unnoticed until now. This cartographic study is set in the history of the exploration of the Great Lakes convoluted histories region and the Mississippi River. Three other unsigned and un- behind the earliest car- dated period maps, often claimed as “Toronto” firsts, are also ex- tographic appearances amined. These claims are dismissed, as revised attributions show of the name Toronto. them to have been by different cartographers and dated later than originally thought, making Franquelin’s map the oldest. The carto- Most importantly, it graphic genealogy of the name Toronto is traced back through three will validate the recent- and a half centuries to its initial appearance on Franquelin’s map. ly found map as the Résumé: one which ought to be Dans cet article, nous révélons la première carte où apparaît le nom de Toronto. “Tarontos Lac”, actuellement le rightfully recognized as lac Simcoe, figure sur la Carte pour servir à l’éclaircissement Toronto’s cartographic du Papier Terrier de la Nouvelle France (1678) de Jean-Bap- birth certificate. tiste-Louis Franquelin. Ce document est aujourd’hui reconnu The Toronto comme le certificat de naissance cartographique de Toronto. Nous allons décrire cette carte, discuter de cette découverte Maps Muddle et essayer d’expliquer pourquoi ce nom est si longtemps passé here is presently inaperçu. Cette étude cartographique s’inscrit dans l’histoire considerable con- des Grands Lacs et du fleuve du Mississippi. Nous allons aussi T examiner trois autres cartes - ni signées ni datées - qui sont fusing and conflict- souvent proclamées les premières en ce qui concerne “Toronto”. ing information about Cependant, nous allons réfuter ces spéculations car la carte which map is the first de Franquelin est la plus ancienne. L’arbre généalogique car- map to carry the name tographique du nom de Toronto sera reconstitué en retraçant Toronto. This is to a les derniers 350 ans et en remontant jusqu’à son apparition sur degree understand- la carte de Franquelin. able. Many early maps are unsigned, undated and without title heading. Ascertaining early drafts or later copies of other maps, the provenance of anonymous centuries considering the repository in which they old maps relies on expert interpretation, are found, as well as dating names and handwriting analysis, references to maps places which are, or are not, on the maps. in correspondence, comparison to simi- In some cases scholars have given differ- lar maps, determining whether they are ent titles to the same map, often using 154 ONTARIO HISTORY
Map 1: Carte… du Papier Terrier de la Nouvelle France... / Joannes Ludovicus Franquelin pinxit, 1678.1
obtuse and meaningless names, further decades of the seventeenth century into confusing identification. the eighteenth, the name imprinted it- Toronto, acording to the prevail- self across the entire landscape between ing theory, got its name from the Mo- Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay. The hawk word “Tkaranto,” meaning “where area came to be known as the “Passage there are trees standing in the water,” af- de Taronto” or the Toronto Portage, a ter the ancient fish weirs at the present well used trail with pre-recorded history day Atherley Narrows between Lake origins. There were two main branches; Simcoe and Lake Couchiching.2 Origi- an eastern branch, following the Rouge nally applied to Lake Simcoe on maps, River, and a western one following the French translations have variously called Humber River. The latter eventually be- it “Lac Taronto,” “Lac de Taronto,” and come the primary portage route to the “Lac Taronteau,” among other spellings. upper Great Lakes. Southern Georgian Bay was also called At least three different maps have “Baye de Taronto” and the name was ap- been claimed to be the first to use the plied at different times to both the Sev- name Toronto. Two are currently refer- ern and Humber Rivers. From the last enced on the City of Toronto web site.
1 Louis Franquelin, Carte pour servir à l’éclaircissement du papier terrier de la Nouvelle-France, 1678, Man- uscrit, Bibliotèque Nationale de France BnF, département des Cartes et Plans, CPL GE SH ARCH-23 B. 2 Alan Rayburn, “The Real Story of How Toronto got its Name,”Canadian Geographic -September/ October 1994, Ottawa, 68-70. t0r0nto’s cartographic birth certificate 155
Map Segment 1: Tarontos Lac, from Carte…du Papier Terrier de la Nouvelle France, Jean-Baptiste Franquelin, 1678.
tto date to 1680, or after. AAnother map also cited aas a Toronto first, which hhas been called the Second GGalinée Map, was origi- nnally dated to 1670, but iis now considered to have bbeen made around 1700. There is also a meas- uure of mystery and dark cconspiracy behind some oof the maps considered hhere. Scholars sorting out ttheir provenance have un- However, their original attributions covered the skullduggery of individuals were subsequently revised, and all three deliberately forging maps and fabricat- are now credited to different cartogra- ing historical accounts to give false credit phers, made at later dates. The revised to early explorers in the discovery of the atributions have escaped notice of many, Mississippi River. Underlying much of leading to a persistance of the former this deviousness are bitter rivalries be- eroneous attributions in the literature tween religious orders involved in mis- and conflicting claims of which map is sionary work in New France, which often legitimately the first to carry the name factored in how history was recorded. Toronto. The elusiveness of this point is To untangle this morass of maps one compounded, as few histories of Toron- needs to consider some of the history be- to dealing with this subject identify the hind the early exploration and cartogra- sources or rationale for their cartograph- phy of the Great Lakes. Each of the maps ic attributions. mentioned above is discussed, along with The initial map to be identified as others, to give a historical context for the first to use the name Toronto is one their authorship. The analysis will look titled, Lac Ontario ou de Frontenac. A at the reasons behind the conflicting at- close second is a very similar map, Lac tributions and dates of origin. This will Huron ou Karegnondi ou mer Douce Des serve to bring greater clarity to the sub- Hurons. Both were originally thought ject and confirm Fraquelin’s 1678 land ti- to have been made some time between tles map as being the first to use Toronto 1673 and 1675, but now are considered as a place name. 156 ONTARIO HISTORY
The Historical Context: ern route,” using the Ottawa River, Lake Toronto as a Waypoint on the Nipissing and the French River connec- tion to Georgian Bay. Route to the Orient In the late 1660s and early 1670s, he early mapping of the Great Lakes following their mid-century conquest Tand the Toronto area was driven in and dispersion of the resident Huron- large measure by the quest to search out Wendat (Huron), Tobacco (Petun), and the rumoured great rivers, the Ohio and Neutral Nations of southern Ontario, the Mississippi, as a route to the “Mer de Iroquois Confederacy Nations, from Vermeille,” or the California Sea, and be- south of Lake Ontario, established seven yond, to reach Japan and the Sea of Chi- villages at strategic transportation points na. The Toronto Portage was incidental along the north shore of Lake Ontario.3 to this, except for it being part of a short- French missionaries soon followed into er route from Lake Ontario to Georgian these villages. In 1668, Sulpician priests Claude The Northern Iroquois Villages Trouvé and François de Fénelon estab- c.1668 - 1682 lished a mission at the village of Kente, x Ganneious - Napanee near present day Consecon in Prince Ed- x Kente - Bay of Quinte ward County, to serve the north shore x Kentsio - Rice Lake Iroquois villages. They travelled among x Ganaraske - Port Hope these villages, and Fénelon, possibly with priest François d’Urfé, overwintered at x Ganatsekwyagon - mouth of Rouge River Ganatsekwyagon near the mouth of the x Teiaiagon, (also Teyaiagon or Teyayegon) - mouth of Humber River Rouge River, giving us today’s name for x Quinaouatoua (or Tinawatawa) - near Ham- Frenchman’s Bay. It is also possible that ilton Adrien Jolliet (brother of explorer Lou- is), and Jean Peré may have crossed the Bay and the upper Great Lakes. portage from that village to Georgian This exploration did not begin in Bay in 1669 on their way to seek out cop- earnest until the late 1660s when a series per mines in the area of Lake Superior. of tentative peace arrangements between The village of Teiaiagon, near the mouth the French and the Haudenosaunee (Iro- of the Humber River, was established in quois Confederacy of Five Nations—lat- 1673 or shortly thereafter, quite possibly er Six Nations), paved the way for French in response to René-Robert Cavalier de exploration, trade and missionary work La Salle’s construction that year of Fort in the Great Lakes region. Until then, Frontenac, where Kingston is today. travel into the area was via the “north- In 1669-70, Sulpician priests René
3 Victor Konrad, “An Iroquois Frontier: the North Shore of Lake Ontario During the Late Seven- teenth Century,” Journal of Historical Geography, 7:2 (1981), 129 -144, 135. t0r0nto’s cartographic birth certificate 157
Bréhant de Galinée and François Dol- western tributaries might yet lead to the lier De Casson undertook an expedi- Gulf of California. Based on information tion to look into establishing a mission compiled from these explorations, Louis in the Ohio country. They were joined Jolliet composed a map in 1674, drawn by La Salle who was to investigate water- by Franquelin, commonly known as “the way routes to the west, but who did not Larger Jolliet Map.”5 complete the trip with them. Galinée Its immense significance lay in chart- afterwards completed a map based on ing the connections between the Great those travels, which encompasses Lakes Lakes and the Mississippi River, reveal- Ontario, Erie, and Huron. That map is ing an internal waterway route to the considered later in this study. At about Gulf of Mexico. the same time, an exceedingly fine map But it was not until April 1682, when of Lake Superior and the northern shores La Salle reached the mouth of the Mis- of Lakes Michigan and Huron was com- sissippi, that its full span to the Gulf pleted by Jesuit priests, Claude Allouez of Mexico was known. In staging for and Claude Dablon, La Carte du Lac his descent of the Mississippi, La Salle Tracy ou Superieur, also now referred to traversed the Toronto Portage at least as The Jesuit Map of Lake Superior.4 three times, and possibly a fourth time. In 1673, Jesuit priest Jacques Mar- In a letter written while “at Taronto,” La quette and Louis Jolliet, a former Jesuit Salle speaks of a traverse made there in student turned fur trader, explorer, and 1680, and of the difficulties of portaging cartographer, were the first Europeans over the “mountains,” no doubt the Oak to discover and descend the Mississippi Ridges Moraine.6 from the north. Fearing encountering His almost casual reference to To- the Spanish, they turned back where ronto suggests the name and the route it the Arkansas River joins the Mississippi, embodied was by then a familiar feature. still some 700 kilometers from its out- It cannot be discounted that La Salle was let. While confirming the Mississippi quite possibly responsible for introduc- emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, local ing that name into the cartography of the Native accounts left hope that one of its time.
4 Jean Allouez, Claude Dablon; 1669, Lac Tracy ou Supérior avec les dependances de la mission du Saint Esprit, Library and Archives Canada, NMC7068. Service historique de la Défense, département Marine, Cartes et plans, recueil 67, no. 76 [Formerly in Bibliothèque de la Service hydrographique, 4044B-73].
Map 2: Part of Lac Ontario ou de Frontenac, (Claude Bernou 1680 or after).7
Following his exploration, La Salle tribes. To this day speculation continues returned to France in November 1683 as to whether La Salle’s misplaced land- with the intent of going back to the Mis- ing was deliberate, to place him within sissippi by way of the Gulf of Mexico. striking distance of Spanish silver mines, With assistance from influential persons or an accident due to erroneous latitudi- connected to King Louis XIV’s court, nal readings, faulty navigational equip- he obtained a commission and resourc- ment, or inaccurate maps. es to establish a mission in Louisiana Lac Ontario ou de near the outlet of the Mississippi. The The Map expedition ended in tragic disaster. In Frontenac February 1685, La Salle’s ships landed his map is the first map to have been near Matagorda Bay on the Texas coast, Tbroadly identified as the earliest to nearly 400 miles west of the mouth of include Toronto as a place name. On it, the Mississippi. He was eventually killed Lake Simcoe is named “Lac de Taronto” by mutineers and, save for a group of (Map 2). It was originally attributed to seven people which made its way to New Louis Jolliet, co-discoverer of the Missis- France, what was left of the landing party sippi, and dated 1673. However, schol- perished at their own mutinous hands, ars later determined it was made around or were killed or taken in by local Native 1680 by Claude Bernou, Sulpician priest,
7 Claude Bernou, Carte du Lac Ontario ou de Frontenac et de sa Region, Library and Archives Canada (copy) Ph/902/[1680], CART023593, MIKAN no. 4148568. Original; Service historique de la Défense, Vincennes, département Marine, Cartes et plans, Recueil 67 No 47, (previously 4044 B No 43). t0r0nto’s cartographic birth certificate 159
Map 3: Part of Lac Huron ou Karegnondi ou mer Douce Des Hurons, (Claude Bernou 1680 or after).8 geographer, math- ematician and strong supporter of La Salle as an official in the court of King Louis XIV. Notwithstand- ing the correction, both attributions and dates continue to be found claiming the map as the earli- est to use the name Toronto. The map is part of a set of nine maps by Bernou, each showing one or more of Adding to the Toronto maps muddle the Great Lakes. When pieced together is a very similar map from Bernou’s set of they make up the entire Great Lakes sys- nine maps, Lac Huron ou Karegnondi ou tem and St. Lawrence Valley. The map mer Douce Des Hurons (Map 3). It covers shows the Iroquois villages of Teyayegon much of the same area as the Lac Ontario and Ganatsekwyagon. A trail is marked ou de Frontenac map, but in a slightly showing the eastern branch of the To- different way. It has the same inscrip- ronto Portage from Ganatsekwyagon to tion and eastern branch of the Toronto Lac de Taronto. From there, a river, to- Portage, but the text is placed entirely day’s Severn, joins that lake to Georgian on the east side of the portage. Some au- Bay. An inscription written through the thors have failed to distinguish between portage notes it as, the “Road by which the two maps or confuse them with one the Iroquois go to the Ottawas [a Na- another. It also has been cited as a 1673, tive nation to the north] that they would (and 1675) Jolliet map, first to name To- have taken to trade in New Holland if ronto. In the end, both maps are by Ber- fort frontenac [sic] had not been built on nou, circa 1680 and neither is the first to their route.” use the name Toronto.
8 Claude Bernou, 1680 or after,Carte du Lac Huron ou Karegnondi ou Mer Douce des Hurons, Li- brary and Archives Canada (copy) Ph/902/[1680] CARTO22915, MIKAN no. 4147202. Original; Service historique de la Défense, Vincennes, département Marine, Cartes et plans, Recueil 67, No 48 (pre- viously 4044 B No 44). 160 ONTARIO HISTORY
Most modern references to the Lac sippi and associated cartography.10 Ontario ou de Frontenac map as the first Delanglez metes out a scathing con- to carry the Toronto place name can be demnation of Pierre Margry, curator of traced back to Percy J. Robinson’s book, the French Archives during the late 19th “Toronto during the French Regime: century, who, between 1865 and 1892, a history of the Toronto Region from wrote a series of works on the early ex- Brule to Simcoe, 1615-1793,” first pub- ploration of North America.11 lished in 1933.9 He accuses Margry of fabricating de- Using earlier sources, he initially ceitful histories of La Salle, falsely credit- credits the map as “having been ascribed” ing him with discovering the Ohio River to Louis Jolliet and being “not earlier as well as discovering and exploring the than 1673.” He states it is the first map Mississippi River ahead of the 1673 Jolli- to use the name “Lac de Taronto” and to et/Marquette expedition. Delangez says show Teiaiagon, (actually, Teyayegon on that Margry’s fabrications are motivated the map). Later in Appendix I, Robinson by a prejudicial hatred of Jesuits which says La Salle himself may have supervised borders on a phobia.12 the preparation of the map, as it contains Delanglez attacks Margry’s sources information only he could have had, and and singles out documents written in the that “it differs in important particulars 1680s by the above noted Claude Ber- from the Jolliet maps of the time.” In nou and by Eusèbe Renaudot, editor of Appendix II he retracts from the Jol- the Gazette de France and member of the liet attribution altogether, giving the French Academy. These two highly influ- cartographer as “Anonymous,” and puts ential individuals were deeply involved a question mark on the date, “1673?”. in promoting La Salle’s efforts in New Notwithstanding Robinson’s backpedal- France. In the 1680s, in order to influ- ling on the map`s provenance, histories ence the King’s support for La Salle’s en- of Toronto continue to cite him as the deavours, they wrote fictitious accounts authority behind the map unequivocally of La Salle being first to discover the being a 1673 map by Jolliet. Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. In 1938, five years after Robinson’s Delanglez shows how in the 1880s book came out, Jesuit historian Jean De- Margry revives the two-hundred year- langlez gives a revised attribution for the old fictitious Renaudot and Bernou ac- map. His book, “Some La Salle Journeys,” counts, to give new life to their dormant sorts out contrasting claims about the renditions of La Salle as discoverer of exploration and discovery of the Missis- the Misssissippi. Delanglez argues that
9 Robinson, Toronto during the French Régime, 274 (see footnote 6). 10 Jean Delanglez, Some La Salle Journeys (Chicago, Institute of Jesuit History, 1938), 122. 11 Pierre Margry, Découvertes et établissements des Français dans l’ouest et dans le sud de l’Amérique Sep- tentrionale, 1614-1754, 1879, [Paris]: [Maisonneuve]. 12 Delanglez, Some La Salle Journeys, 3. t0r0nto’s cartographic birth certificate 161
Margry’s revised history is an attempt to ries of nine Great Lakes maps, includ- discredit rightful “Jesuit” entitlements to ing Lac Ontario ou de Frontenac and Lac these discoveries. The presumed La Salle Huron ou Karegnondi ou mer Douce Des journeys are undertaken during two years Hurons, thought to have been by Jol- or so following La Salle’s separation from liet in 1673-75, were made by Bernou. Galinée on the shores of Lake Ontario in He dates them to “after 1680, or later.”16 1669, when his whereabouts are other- Thus the revised provenance of these two wise unaccounted for. maps are credited to the investigative Delanglez also examined a number of work of Delanglez. maps from the 1670s that were originally But Delanglez also finds that Margry attributed to Jolliet. By comparing these is equally complicit in manufacturing with Bernou’s handwriting and peculiari- false maps. He demonstrates how in the ties in his spelling, he finds many are not 1880s Margry pieced together Bernou’s by Jolliet, but are in fact by Bernou. Ber- two-hundred year-old Great Lakes map nou is also alleged to have altered Jolliet’s segments to counterfeit a composite map 1764 map, The Larger Jolliet, by adding of the Great Lakes and Mississippi basin. the Ohio River on it, with an inscription The forged map, known as Parkman no. showing it as “La Salle’s route for going 3, includes a note referencing La Salle’s into Mexico.”13 bogus journey to the Gulf of Mexico Delanglez dates the tampering to via the Ohio River. The map is undated, 1680 or after, as La Salle did not think of unsigned, and without title. Margry pro- going to “Mexico” until then.14 vides it to American historians making it He also identifies Bernou as the one appear as a product made two years after who made a copy of this map, commonly Galinée’s map of 1670.17 called The Smaller Jolliet, which has simi- Delanglez exposes Margry as unscru- lar claims to a La Salle journey to Mexico pulously using his position as curator of via the Ohio River. He calls Bernou’s map the French Archives to limit the informa- manipulation about La Salle’s supposed tion available to other historians, while trips, “a clear case of anti-Jesuit astigma- fabricating a false history of La Salle dis- tism.”15 covering the Mississippi, supported by Delanglez concludes the entire se- adulterated maps.18
13 Lucien Campeau, “Les Cartes relatives à la découverte du Mississipi par le P. Jacques Marquette et Louis Jolliet,” Les Cahiers des dix , n° 47, 1992, 41-90, 62. 14 Delanglez, Some La Salle Journeys, 33. 15 Delanglez, “Franquelin, Mapmaker,” Mid-America 25, 1943, 29-74, 55. 16 Delanglez, Some La Salle Journeys, 39. 17 Ibid., 33 and Note 48. For “Parkman No. 3” see; Francis Parkman, La Salle and the discovery of the great West: France and England in North America. Part third (Boston, 1897, Little, Brown, and Co.), 476; Justin Winsor, Narrative and critical history of America (Boston Vol IV, 1884, Houghton, Mifflin and Co.), 215-17. 18 Note: Margry’s outrageous historical revisionism may have been politically motivated. His writ- 162 ONTARIO HISTORY
Historical geographer Conrad Hei- across the continent, placing its outlet denreich, in the 1970s, writing of the well west, to coincide with that of the early exploration and cartography of the Rio Grande River.20 Great Lakes, finds Delanglez’s arguments It was thought this location could be concerning the dating and authorship better sold to King Louis XIV as favour- of the Bernou maps convincing and sees able to spreading Christianity among no reason to doubt his conclusions. He the local Natives, who were conveniently goes also on to speculate, in a vein simi- described as friendly to the French and lar to Robinson, that the information on willing to assist them in overtaking Span- the Bernou series of maps may have been ish silver mines in the area. This ruse is based on some now lost original La Salle also thought to be fuelled by Bernou’s maps.19 desire to be made a Bishop for any colony As an aside, the seventeenth century which may be established by La Salle in Renaudot and Bernou high jinks do not the new territory of Louisiana. The grand end here. Following news of La Salle’s geographical hoax was said to set back 1682 descent of the Mississippi, they European mapping of North America for were involved in concocting a scheme to twenty years, as cartographers struggled promote the establishment of a colony to straighten out the awkward Missis- in the Gulf of Mexico. Based on false sippi alignment.21 information from La Salle, Franquelin, The notion of La Salle’s discovery in 1684, in France with la Salle, unwit- of the Ohio River and his priority of tingly drew a map plotting the Missis- discovery of the Mississippi over that of sippi’s course in a wild westward swing Marquette and Jolliet’s is still very much
ings coincided with the beginning of the French Third Republic (1870-1940), a period marked by highly divisive and, at times, violent political and social upheavals over differences between the church and state. The Catholic Church, religious orders, and clergy, with the Jesuits foremost at issue, were largely perceived as monarchist sympathisers, enemies of progress and individual freedoms, and as a threat to the Republic. The Republic aggressively pursued anticlerical reform policies to remove ecclesiastics from public func- tions and reduce the power of the church, with particular focus on secularizing educational institutions. Unfrocking Marquette’s “Jesuit” discovery of the Mississippi by supplanting the laic La Salle with such honour would ensure a non-sectarian posterity to the landmark event. International scholarship would repudiate Margry’s Mississippi fiction, leaving only some French anticlerical historians as his supporters. (see Delanglez, Some La Salle Journeys, 9) 19 Conrad E. Heidenreich, “Mapping the Great Lakes / The Period of Exploration, 1603-1700,” Car- tographica, 17:3 (1980), 32-63, 48. 20 J.B.L. Franquelin, Map of Louisiana, Carte de la Louisiane, ou des voyages du Sr. de La Salle : & des pays qu’il découverts depuis la Nouvelle France jusqu’au Golfe Mexique, les années 1679, 80, 81 & 82, 1684. Reduced facsimile of MS. copy (made in Paris for Francis Parkman), now in the Library of Harvard Uni- versity. The original, formerly in the Archives de la Marine, Paris, has been lost. Library of Congress image, G3300 1684 .F7 1896 TIL
alive today. Current histories may still be née’s “Carte du Lac Ontario...” went miss- found placing La Salle on the Ohio and ing from French libraries some time be- Mississippi some time between 1669 fore 1870. Coyne lists three extant copies and 1672. The long standing uncertainty which he identifies as having been traced and ambiguity over the authenticity, dat- separately from the original. Other ver- ing, and authorship of many maps of the sions were also made from these copies.23 time, including claimed map forgeries, There are differences among the casts enough of a pall over the issue to copies; their titles differ and the textual leave room for doubters and naysayers to inscriptions on some copies are more de- continue haranguing on what is for most tailed than others. Coyne worked from a resolved issue. what is perhaps the most complete ver- sion, a copy of which is held by the Uni- Galinée’s map: Carte du Lac versity of Ottawa, and can be seen here.24 Ontario et des habitations qui That copy can be awkward to view as it is drawn in a south at the top orienta- l’Environne, 1670 tion, which is assumed to have been the efore considering the map Percy Rob- orientation of the original map. It shows Binson calls the Second Galinée Map, the village of Ganatsekwyagon near the we need to address the one map which is mouth of the Rouge River with an in- definitively known to be linked to Gali- scription noting that it is where, in 1669, née; his 1670 map Carte du Lac Ontario Jean Peré passed on his way to Lake Hu- et des habitations qui l’Environne, [Map ron in search of copper deposits. The map of Lake Ontario and the habitations sur- also notes the probable area of the north- rounding it], (Map 4). It does not name ern terminus of the Toronto Portage in Toronto but is important to this study. Georgian Bay, but no trail is mapped. The map is referred to in correspond- Another copy made in 1880 by Pierre ence, which unquestionably dates it to Louis Morin, shown below, reverses the 1670. James H. Coyne gives an excel- orientation to the more familiar north at lent rendering of Galinée’s journey and the top orientation, but lacks the more map in a 1903 article, “Exploration of the complete set of notations that Coyne de- Great Lakes by Dollier de Casson and Bre- scribes. hant de Galinée.”22 In addition to seeking out the the Unfortunately, the original of Gali- Ohio and the Mississippi rivers as possi-
22 James H. Coyne, “Exploration of the Great Lakes, 1669-1670 by Dollier de Casson and de Bréhant de Galinée,” Ontario Historical Society, Papers and /Records, 4 (1903), 87. 23 Ibid., XXXII. 24
Map 4: Morin’s copy of Galinée’s map, Carte du Lac Ontario et des habitations qui l’Environne.25
ble routes to the Gulf of California, the ton. He claimed to be ill and was intent on Galinée, Casson, and La Salle expedition avoiding overwintering in the region and was also to claim new western territories presumably returned to Montreal. How- in the King’s name and establish missions ever, his unknown whereabouts for the among Native tribes.26 next two years have, as described above, Galinée was specifically selected for been subject of unsubstantiated accounts this expedition because of his ability claiming his discoveries and travels down to draw maps. Not long after departing the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Montreal in June 1669, delays and set- Galinée and Dollier ended up circling backs caused them to alter their course the lower Great Lakes on a route along of action. La Salle did not complete the the south shore of Lake Ontario and the expedition with the others. On Septem- north shore of Lake Erie, where they ber 24, he separated from the group at overwintered near today’s village of Port the Iroquois village of Tinawatawa, in the Dover. In the spring of 1670, after spend- Dundas Valley near present day Hamil- ing what appears to have been a pleasant 25 Pierre Louis Morin, Map: Carte du Lac Ontario et des habitations qui l’Environne, Ensemble le pays que M.M. Dolier et Galiné, missionnaires du Séminaire de St-Sulpice ont parcouru,1670, True copy of the original deposited in the Archives des cartes et plans de la marine impériale, made in Paris May 1854 (Reproduction), Signed P.L. Morin, Québec 1 June, 1880.
27 Ibid., 75. 28 Ibid., xxxi, Note 4. 29 Ibid., 78-79, Notes 2 and 3. 30 Ibid., xxxii 31 Ibid., xxxiii 166 ONTARIO HISTORY
The Map Percy Robinson At first glance, the map Robinson Second Galinée Map found exhibits many apparent similari- calls the ties with Galinée’s Carte du Lac Ontario, n 1939, thirty-six years after Coyne having a matching outline of the lower Iexpressed hope the lost original Gali- Great Lakes and that it is also rendered in née map would reappear unexpect- a south at the top perspective. However, edly at some future point, Percy Rob- Robinson’s Second Galinée Map, as high- inson in a stroke of serendipity, claims lighted on his tracing, is substantially dif- to have found it. In a brief article he ferent in at least two key respects. First, it describes how he recognised it while has additional information showing the studying a collection of maps in the Kawartha Lakes/Trent River system con- Public Archives of Maps in Ottawa.32 necting today’s Prince Edward County to The map he examined is a photostat copy Lake Simcoe, with links to Georgian Bay of the original held in the Public Archives through the Severn River. On the map, of France, from a file called the Delisle Lake Simcoe is named “Lac De Tar8n- Portfolio.33 Robinson calls his recovered teau,” (the symbol “8” often being used map the Second Galinée Map, claiming then by the French for an “ou” sound). it to be the missing original of Galinée’s Today’s Severn River is identified as “R de Carte du Lac Ontario and dates it to la Ronteau.” Robinson’s dating of the map 1670, (the photostat Robinson viewed to 1670 would make this map the first can be seen here.34) Robinson made a to use Toronto as place name. However, tracing of the area around Lake Ontario Robinson’s attribution is problematic, as from the photostat. His tracing, Map 5, no part of the additional Trent/Kawartha reverses the map to a north at the top information is transcribed onto any of the orientation, highlights the Trent River/ copies of Galinée’s Carte du Lac Ontario. Kawartha Lakes system connecting Lake Because this additional information Ontario and Lake Simcoe, and translates is entirely absent from the copies, and in the text of the inscription describing the consideration of the repository in which use of the Toronto Portage into English. the supposed original is found, scholars
32 Percy J. Robinson, “Galinée’s Map of the Great Lakes Region in 1670,” Canadian Historical Re- view, 20 (1939), 293. 33 Ibid., 293. The Delisle Portfolio in the French National Archives, is a file of map sketches made some time between 1688 and 1703 by French cartographer, Guillaume Delisle and his father Claude. The sketches recorded and reconciled accounts of North American explorations and travels, (many of the sketches can be seen here,
Map 5: Robinson’s tracing of part of the map he calls the Second Galinée Map, with additional details on the north side of Lake Ontario.35 have dismissed Robinson’s attribution of detailed map.” He describes the map as this map to Galinée and have determined being “based on the map of Galinée for it to be a much later map, by a different all that pertains to the three lower lakes, cartographer. Again, Jean Delanglez is but later information has been added to the author of the re-evaluation of the it,” meaning the Trent River/Kawartha map’s provenance. Delanglez examined Lakes connection. He says it is “a sketch historic and cartographic map sources map of the beginning of the 18th centu- complied by French cartographer Guil- ry.”36 Conrad Heidenreich, writing about laume Delisle, including the original map seventeenth and eighteenth-century maps used for the photostat Robinson exam- of the Great Lakes, agrees with Delan- ined in Ottawa. He says that he “cannot glez and says, “The map appears to be a concur” with Robinson’s opinion of the sketch by Claude Delisle made sometime map being a Galinée “second and more around 1700.37
35 Percy J. Robinson 193?, Map: Copy of 1670 – Part of Galinée’s, Second Map with additional details on the north side of Lake Ontario, Archives of Ontario, B415120: Reference F1080 – MU243, Robinson, Percy James papers, Box 2. 36 Jean Delanglez, “The Sources of the DeLisle Map of 1703,”Mid-America , New Series, Vol. 14, no. 4, October 1943, 255-297, 283. Delanglez notes Robinson quotes French Archives call number as “Porte- feuille 75, Piece 206, Archives nationale, JJ 75.” He erred, it is actually “Piece 152.” 37 Conrad E. Heidenreich “Seventeenth-Century Maps of the Great Lakes: An Overview and Proce- 168 ONTARIO HISTORY
The absence of the Trent River/ ed as a show of force, found the Iroquois Kawartha Lakes connection on any cop- very much in control of a healthy trade ies of Galinée’s Carte du Lac Ontario, relationship with the Dutch, as well as three of which are known to have been with the English, annoyingly, with furs traced from the original, by three differ- harvested from French territory. At that ent scholars, independently of one an- time, the Iroquois were harassing French other, fundamentally disqualifies the ec-S Native allies and setting themselves up as ond Galinée Map as the lost original from middlemen, redirecting French ally pel- which those copies were made. If there is tries to the Dutch and English.38 French a link between these two maps, it is more trading activity in the area was known to likely the, so called, Second Galinée Map be more active later, when the building is a later and more detailed derivative of Fort Frontenac in 1673 started to im- based on the Carte du Lac Ontario, and pede Iroquois trade with the Dutch and not the other way around as Robinson English, as described in the inscription would have it. accompanying the portage in Bernou’s A second difference between the maps of 1680, Maps 2 and 3 above. How- two maps are the descriptions on them, ever, the overriding question concerning of the use of the Toronto Portage. Gali- the inscription on the Second Galinée née’s Carte du Lac Ontario describes it Map, is whether Talon, a skillful admin- as the route Jean Peré used in 1669 on istrator, would actually send a map to the his way to Lake Huron, while the Second King that brought attention to French Galinee Map describes the portage as the trading activity in the interior, when that route that is beginning to be used by the type of trading was so actively prohibited French to reach the Ottawas, one of their at the time by Colbert. trading allies. That difference further un- In addition, it must be noted that dermines the case for the former map be- Robinson’s Second Galinée Map is not a ing a copy of the latter and it also raises stand alone artifact. It is but one sheet questions on the validity of Robinson’s from a map-set made up of four map dating the Second Galinée Map to 1670. sheets, something Robinson never ad- Noting the presence of French traders dressed. The four map sheets overlap each on the Toronto Portage in 1670 is very other, forming a large map that charts much at odds with New France Gover- the area from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to nor Rémy De Courcelle’s observations Lake Ontario, and beyond, to Lake Su- made during a 1671 expedition into Lake perior. Only Lake Michigan is excluded. Ontario. Courcelle’s expedition, intend- The set of maps is rendered in a south at
dures for Analysis,” Archivaria 6 (Summer 1978), 83-112, 96. 38 Jean Marmier, “Le Récit de M. de Courcelles au lac Ontario (1671), et Dollier de Casson,” Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française 32:2 (1978), 239-50. See also, Pierre Margry, Découvertes et établissements des Français dans l’ouest et dans le sud de l’Amérique Septentrionale, 1614-1698 (Paris, Maisonneuve, 1879), Vol. 1, 167-92. t0r0nto’s cartographic birth certificate 169 the top orientation. The western portion attached map as “explaining their route of the map-set is largely an amalgam of and how far they have penetrated.” These Galinee’s Carte du Lac Ontario and the statements clearly limit the extent of the Jesuit Map of Lake Superior. explorations and bounds of the map to Both the French National Archives the area known to have been visited by and Library, and the Library and Ar- Galinée and Dollier. Had Talon been chives Canada give the author as Guil- able to convey a map showing the ex- laume Delisle, dating to around 1700. tent of the area covered by the four sheet Library and Archives Canada specifically map-set, stretching from the east coast to lists their photostat copy as a set of four halfway across the continent into the in- maps, Canada Quatre Feuilles, [Canada terior, he would undoubtedly have given Four Leaves, or Four Sheets], (see foot- a more grandiose and self-serving de- note 34). scription of the territory he was admin- As well, Robinson’s attribution istering on the King’s behalf. would require the entire map-set to have But if the Second Galinée Map is been produced some time between In- not the mislaid Galinée original Coyne tendant Talon’s letters of 29 August and hoped may reappear unexpectedly, what 10 November 1670. And something might we say of its provenance? Conrad in the order of a minor miracle would Heidenreich suggests a possible link be- likely have been needed for a group of tween the Canada Quatre Feuilles map- Sulpician priests to be given access to a set to a very similar map made by Mon- very recently produced, and as yet un- treal Sulpician priest, Francois Vachon published Jesuit Map of Lake Superior, de Belmont, in 1680.39 Belmont’s map for incorporation into the map-set that is Carte du cours du fleuve Saint Laurent same year. In all, the compilation of the depuis son embouchure jusques et y compris map-set amounts to an undertaking far le Lac supérieur, 1680 / envoyé par M. de beyond the capacities of Galinée and his Belmont,” [Map of the course of the St. colleagues in 1670 Montreal. Lawrence from its outlet up to and in- Finally, we should also note the lan- cluding Lake Superior, 1680, sent by M. guage of Talon’s 10 November 1670 de Belmont].40 letter conveying Galinée’s map to King The Belmont map covers the same Louis XIV. In it he speaks of the voyage geography as the Canada Quatre Feuilles of Galinée and Dollier saying they have compilation, however it is oriented with travelled through Lake Ontario and vis- north at the top. Both the Belmont map ited unknown tribes. Talon refers to the and Canada Quatre Feuilles appear in
39 Heidenreich, “Seventeenth-Century Maps of the Great Lakes,” 94. 40 Francois Vachon de Belmont, Carte du cours du fleuve Saint Laurent depuis son embouchure jusques et y compris le Lac supérieur, 1680 / envoyé par M. de Belmont,
part to be based on bringing together mont map. Galinée’s Carte du Lac Ontario with the However, a closer examination of Jesuit Map of Lake Superior. Both also the similarities and differences between include “Lac de Taronteau” and “R. de these maps and a comparison of hand- La Ronteau.” Notably, and more appro- writing samples to better ascertain the priate to a dating of 1680, the Belmont map makers would be necessary to com- map also refers to the Toronto Portage ment further on either of these possibili- as a route begining to be frequented by ties. Neither of these remarkable maps French traders to reach the upper Great have yet received the detailed considera- Lakes. However, the maps differ in some tion they warrant. of the other inscriptions they contain. For example, Fort Frontenac and Te- Toronto’s Cartographic Birth iaiagon appear on the Belmont map, but Certificate, Carte pour servir strangely neither is on the Canada Qua- a l’eclaircissement du Papier tre Feuilles. The strong similarities and key dif- Terrier de la Nouvelle France, ferences between the Belmont map and J.B. Franquelin 1678 (Map 1) Canada Quatre Feuilles leave little doubt that one is somehow related to the other. here is no doubt about who made The Canada Quatre Feuilles might be a Tthis map or when it was made. The copy taken from the Belmont map, made cartographer’s name, in Latin, and date by one of the Delisles some time around are inscribed in the bottom right corner 1700. On the other hand, it also appears of the map’s neat line; “Joannes Ludovi- possible it could be a draft, or a copy of cus Franquelin pinxit (scribe)1678.” It a draft, done in preparation for the 1680 predates other maps claimed to be the Belmont map, which somehow ended first to carry the name, making “Taron- up in the Delisle Portfolio. The Belmont tos Lac,” for Lake Simcoe, the first time map has much more detail on the por- Toronto’s namesake is known to appear tage trails between Lake Ontario and on a map. As best as can be determined, Kawartha Lakes, suggesting it was made it is the only time the spelling “Tarontos” after Canada Quatre Feuilles. Also noted appears on any map or in any document is an editorial addition of two words, of the time. In a cartouche on the map, inserted between the lines of text, in an a crest surrounded by Natives, there is a inscription in Lake Superior, on the Bel- dedication of the map by Jacques Duch- mont map. This edit has all the hallmarks esneau de la Doussinière et d’Ambault, of a fix by a transcriber, to correct a mis- the Intendant of New France from 1675 take of having omitted two words, when to 1682, to Colbert. The map is quite copying of the same inscription from the large, being made up of eight sheets, Canada Quatre Feuilles, onto the Bel- measuring an 1.9 by 1.1 metres. t0r0nto’s cartographic birth certificate 171
Who was J.B.L. Franquelin?
orn in France in 1651 at Saint-Michel de Villebern, Franquelin came to Canada in 1671. He Bserved as a cartographer in New France from 1674 to 1692 and later in France until 1708 and produced numerous maps chronicling French exploration and occupation in North America, about 50 of which have survived. Some have him conducting a successful trading business in his first three years in Canada, while others place him attending a seminary and leaving before taking any vows of priesthood. He likely acquired his cartographic skills in France before coming to Canada and his use of Lat- in on maps suggests a classical education. He was noted for his artistic abilities and reputed to be the foremost draughtsman in New France. In 1674 Frontenac encouraged him to devote himself to map- ping the colony and newly discovered areas. Franquelin received no salary for his work until 1686. He either continued his trading, or was supported by the Governor and Intendant Duchesneau. In 1683 he married Élisabeth Chesné, a widowed mother with eight children. They had five children of their own and were heavily indebted. That year Franquelin travelled to France to bring some maps and plans which had been requested, and to try and arrange for a salary, likely travelling with La Salle who recently returned from his Mississippi exploration. While In France, he was as- signed as La Salle’s draughtsman and drew his map of La Salle’s discoveries. Upon returning in 1684, his situation remained precarious. Though commissioned in 1687 as the “King’s Hydrographer at Quebec,” proper compensation never ensued. Other titles he carried included the King’s Geographer, Teacher of Navigation, and Acting Engineer, none of which pro- vided real financial relief.Seeking to escape creditors, he sought leave to return to France. Franquelin arrived in Paris in 1692, but tragically, the next year his wife and eight of their children perished in a shipwreck on their way to join him. The remaining children were left in the care of others. Oppor- tunities to return to New France were apparently not pursued and he continued his cartography in France until 1708, where he died some time after 1712. Many of Franquelin’s maps were highly decorative, in some cases serving as much as a canvas for art as for cartography. They were often adorned with symbols of French royalty and landscape and wildlife scenes filing unknown spaces, along with elaborate vignettes of Native gatherings and ships harboured under the shelter of the Quebec fortress in the background. Franquelin’s cartography was prolific, benefitting from first hand information of returning explorers about new discoveries in the emerging frontier. His work transitioned the cartography of French North America from those of missionary explorations, into a systematic imperial enterprise. None of Franquelin’s maps were ever published and he never garnered the notoriety of other famous cartographers who borrowed heavily from his maps. His maps of North America, rolled out before the French king and his ministers, were singularly influential in defining their geospatial im- age of the continent and driving much of France’s political, military and social policy direction for the colony in the latter part of the seventeenth century.41
41 M. W. Burke-Gaffney, “Franquelin, Jean-Baptiste-Louis,”Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2, (University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003), accessed October 14, 2017,
Map Segment 2: Seigneuries along the St. Lawrence River near Trois-Rivières Quebec; from Carte…du Papier Terrier de la Nouvelle France, J.B.L. Franquelin. 1678. As mentioned, the defining feature of ment made specifically for recording and the map is the plotting of names of land- locating land grants. owners to whom the King granted nar- While feudal in design, the obliga- row strips of land called “seigneuries,” or tions of the newly minted “Seigneurs,” fiefs, fronting along the St. Lawrence Riv- were more akin to land settlement agents er. Some of the land grant recipients were who were to organize subletting of farm- former military officers of the Carignan- ing land to “censistaires” [tenants] and Salières Regiment, sent to New France in see to the fulfillment of land clearing and 1665 to reign in the warring Iroquois. Of building of roads and bridges. Many of the 1,200 soldiers who made up the Regi- the land grants were allocated with stra- ment, over 400 remained in New France, tegic military objectives in mind, to oc- induced to stay with land grants and cupy key areas with competent militia.42 the possibility of marriage to the arriv- Map Segment 1 shows the village ing “Filles du Roi,” as part of King Louis of GanatkiaKagon (sic) at the mouth of XIV’s efforts to populate the colony. The the Rouge River, with a portage marked map is unique as an administrative docu- leading to Lake Simcoe, and from there, a
42 W. J. Eccles, “The Canadian Frontier, 1534-1760,” fromHistories of the American Frontier, edited by Ray Allen Billington (Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc. USA, 1969), 234, 67. t0r0nto’s cartographic birth certificate 173
Map Segment 3: Title block and wildlife scene, from Carte…du apierP Terrier de la Nouvelle France, J.B.L. Fran- quelin, 1678. river (Severn) flowing into Lake Huron. NOVITUTERQ; POLVS,” which is Also shown on the map is the village of likely borrowed from a longer poem. The Kente and the waterway/portage route first line translates as “The French lily heading northwest towards Lake Simcoe. now flourishes through the midst of the Interestingly, only the eastern branch of forests.”43 It aptly symbolizes the French the Toronto Portage is shown, and Teiai- imperial fleur-de-lis and French occupa- agon is not depicted. The land area on tion of the St. Lawrence Valley, set in a the map is filled with fanciful, artistic bucolic, artistically rendered natural portrayals of a rich and bountiful coun- landscape. Hanging from the trumpet is try full of beaver, deer and moose, set in a standard adorned with numerous fleur- a landscape made of random tree groves de-lis and the image of a head within rays and low mountain ranges. of sunlight, an emblem of Louis XIV as The map’s upper centre prominently the Sun King. A ribbon tie on the banner features the figure of an angel in a swirl is inscribed with the term “Nec Pluribus of clouds blowing a trumpet, (Map Seg- Impar,” a motto used by Louis XIV on ment 4). Bellowing from the trumpet is military standards, interpreted variously a rhythmical couplet of Latin verse in as implying “Without Equal,” or “Supe- dactylic hexameter, “GALLICA PER rior to All.” More than a mere embel- MED(I) (A)S IAM FLORETLILIA lishment, the figure with its metaphoric SYLVAS: QUID MIRUM(**) LEM trimmings is likely intended as a French
43 Personal communication from Dr. Edward Barnes who graciously supplied the Latin translation. 174 ONTARIO HISTORY
Map Segment 4: Figure of an angel with symbol of Louis XIV as Sun King, from Carte…du Papier Terrier de la Nouvelle France, J.B.L. Franquelin,1678. claim to the land and a royal seal validat- He says this map, along with another by ing the land grants identified on the map. Franquelin of 1678, are “really attempts at The map’s purpose as an administra- art, rather than accurate renditions of the tive record is likely one reason why it has known geography of New France,” and received little attention, and may be part “The geographic features on these maps of the reason why the name Tarontos on are so crude one wonders why these maps it has gone unnoticed. The map brings were made.”44 While the map may not be no new geographic information relating a cartographic milestone, it is, however, a to exploration or discovery. While it has significant public record document with a compass rose, it is without any latitudi- its own uniqueness, having noteworthy nal or longitudinal coordinates. Indeed, value and merit as what might be con- Heidenreich considers the map’s carto- sidered the first “official” royally certified graphic importance somewhat dubious. property survey made in North America.
44 Heidenreich, “Mapping the Great Lakes 1603-1700,” 48. t0r0nto’s cartographic birth certificate 175
Conclusion their maps when they began to occupy the area in the later decades of the eight- hether the Native and French use eenth century, at least until Lord Sim- Wand occupation of the Toronto coe’s adoption of York as a new name for area during the seventeenth and eight- his planned town site. eenth centuries, as minimal and intermit- The early appearance and persistence tent as it may have been, actually consti- of the name Toronto on maps gave it a tuted the historical beginnings of today’s world presence and status far larger than City of Toronto, is arguable. Despite this, its humble beginnings warranted. The the name has inescapable longevity, and strength of such persistent cartographic we now have a case for the cartographic authority no doubt played a role in the manifestation of Toronto as a feature and name surviving through a forty-one-year a place name beginning in 1678. Eventu- hiatus when Toronto was known as York, ally the name came to appear on maps, and to it being reinstated in 1834. The car- atlases, and globes in the possession of tographic genealogy of Toronto as a place the crowned heads of European states, as and a name can be traced back with con- well as in the libraries of public, academ- tinuity through three and a half centuries ic, and religious institutions and those of from its earliest appearance. Impressively, the wealthy around the world. the name survived through successive oc- The name Toronto, as a standalone cupations by different cultures, military place name in its current spelling, was campaigns, and shifting imperial over- eventually linked to its present site on a sights. This historical lineage begins with 1752 map by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, a J.B. Franquelin’s 1678 map as Toronto’s French Royal Cartographer.45 That map namesake map. was drawn one year after the establish- The author gratefully acknowledges ment of Fort Rouillé, commonly known Archives of Ontario, the Bibliotèque as Fort Toronto, on a site now part of Nationale de France, département des the CNE grounds. Publication of maps Cartes et plans, Library and Archives showing Fort Toronto began in 1757 Canada, and the Service historique de la and continued to be printed well after Défense, Vincennes, département Ma- the French destroyed the fort in 1759 as rine, Cartes et plans, who granted per- British troops advanced from Niagara. mission to reproduce their maps for this The British used the name Toronto on publication.
45 Jacques-Nicholas Bellin; Carte generale du Canada ou Nouvelle France, 1752. Library and Archives Canada; MIKAN no. 3693693. This map forms part of an atlas originally held by the “Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine” in France, which was subsequently held by private interests and given to Canada by the British government in 1967, on the occasion of the celebration of Canada’s Centennial.