Highlights From The Vault — Gulf of What?

Will we always have Paris? Maybe—but maybe not.

Place names change over time. But why do they change? And what can those changes tell us about the values and priorities of a society? In this installment of From the Vault, we’d look at maps that demonstrate historic and contemporary shifts to place names.

Samuel de Champlain, Carte de la Nouuelle France, augmentée depuis la derniere, seruant a la navigation faicte en son vray Meridien (1632)

When Samuel de Champlain journeyed and mapped what is now Canada in the early 17th century, he provided names to places that were new to him. These places had been the home of Indigenous people for thousands of years before the arrival of colonizers like Champlain. 

This rare map, the last of several prepared by Champlain, accompanied his most complete publication describing his explorations. It shows the great expanse of the upper continent. Champlain notes that French habitations are marked by a small flag. Notice the places names in these claimed areas: Baye de Notre Dame, Beau port, St. Croix. 

He alludes to the presence of indigenous people by both including illustrations of their dwellings and, in some instances, “naming” places for them.

John Thomson ; J & G Menzies, Porto Rico and Virgin Isles : Haiti, Hispaniola or St. Domingo (1817)

Haiti, Hispaniola, or St. Domingo… this map gives us three names for the same place. Christopher Columbus named the entire island “Hispaniola” when he imposed the first European settlement, La Navidad, in the northeastern corner of the island in 1492. The western portion of the island was ceded to the French in 1625. 

With independence from the French in 1804, the western part of the island was proudly returned to its pre-Columbian name. “Haiti” comes from the indigenous Taíno language and means “land of high mountains”.

Margaret Wickens Pearce, Coming Home to Indigenous Place Names in Canada (2017)

Commissioned by Dr. Stephen J. Hornsby, Director of the Canadian-American Center, Coming Home to Indigenous Place Names in Canada was researched and designed by Dr. Margaret Wickens Pearce. The map depicts Indigenous place names across Canada, shared by permission of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities and people. The names express territorial rights and describe the shapes, sounds, and stories of sovereign lands. The names mark the locations of the gathering places, the communities, the places of danger and beauty, and the places where treaties were signed. The names are ancient and recent, both in and outside of time, and they express and assert the Indigenous presence across the Canadian landscape in Indigenous languages.

The map does not depict all of the Indigenous place names of Canada, nor are all Indigenous Nations and communities represented. Beyond the map’s names are thousands upon thousands more, an ever growing and expanding atlas of intimate, geographical knowledge and experience.

The intention of the map is to create respect for Indigenous homelands and sovereignties, and a feeling for and understanding of the place names.

Pierre Mortier, Teâtre de la guerre en Amerique telle que'elle est à present possedée par les Espagnols, Anglois, François, et Hollandois &c : nouvellement mis au jour (1703)

The Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding lands have long been valued for its resources. Look closely at the cartouche on this map. Indigenous figures stand with their backs to the viewer and their arms extended, almost as if they were welcoming and sharing with the colonists before them. The colonists kneel before a chest surrounded by bounty. 

As you look more closely, you will notice that the mapmaker has included a detailed depiction of silver mining. Colonists dressed in European fashions oversee the intense physical labor of native people. These scenes reveal how European mapmakers portrayed the lands and peoples of the Americas through a colonial lens.

Jan Jansson, Insulae Americanae in Oceano Septentrionali cum terris adiacentibus (1638)

European explorers and cartographers named this large body of water “The Gulf of Mexico” in the 1550s. The name predates the modern nation of Mexico and comes from the term Mexica, the Nahuatl name for the Aztecs. 

We can see the Gulf of Mexico on this atlas spread from 1638. The cartouche in the upper right includes all kinds of wildlife, including animals we may have found within the gulf.