Carte De La Partie De La Cote Nord-Ouest De L'Amerique Reconne pendant les Etes de 1792, 1793, et 1794.

Striking and highly detailed, fine, unusual copper-engraved large-format George Vancouver's 1799 sea chart gave a general reconnaissance of the west coast of America from San Diego to Kodiak Island, Alaska. At last, the west coast of America, particularly the Pacific Northwest, appears on the map much as it is in reality. This beautifully engraved map features a number of notable firsts, including the first published mapping of the Puget Sound, the first mapping of Vancouver as an Island, the first mapping of the Johnston Strait, and the first published map of the Columbia River. Vancouver's mapping of the Columbia River, which he initially missed, was of crucial importance to the development of the western fur trade. Just five years after this map was published, Lewis and Clark would consult it when planning their important overland expedition to America's west coast. The subsequent opening of the west to the fur trade heightened British and American rivalries in the region as well as