Title: A Map of Virginia
Artist: John Smith

The first accurate map of Chesapeake Bay in North America was made by an English soldier, Captain John Smith, who in 1608?9 served as president of the governing council of the English settlement in Virginia. Published in 1612, it served as the prototype for subsequent maps of the area for more than fifty years. Today it is particularly valued for the unique information it provides about the locations of Native American tribes (it identifies ten tribes and some 166 native villages), but it is also an expression of the colonial instincts of seventeenth-century England. ?The gaining Provinces addeth to the King?s Crown?, Smith later wrote, ?but the reducing Heathen people to civilitie and true Religion, bringeth honour to the King of Heaven.? 

MS. Ashmole 1758, fols. 13v?14r