J. Senex. A New Map of America. 1721.

J. Senex. A New Map of America. London, 1721.   Striking example of John Senex's decorative map of America.Senex's map is curious for several reasons. First, unlike most maps of the period, Senex adds a conjectural Northwest Coastline, which includes a number of islands and several lakes, including Aquinonbock, Lake of Isles, and The Great Lake of Thoago or Thoya. On the coastline, Desolation and Zapozipin Bays appear north of 60 degrees.Two other remarkable features in Senex's map includes the odd unnamed river with its headwaters in the Florida panhandle and the unique shape of South America. Remarkably, this is one of the few English Language maps to show California as an island, appearing after Kino's location of the headwaters of the Colorado debunked the insular myth. It is indeed curious that despite noting the islands and other features along the Northwest coast, Wagner gives no real explanation of the source of the information, which certainly predates the Russian discoveries