This rare map of the world is a print made by Venetian engraver and mapmaker Paolo Forlani in 1560. Almost 450 years old, it is stored at Library and Archives Canada in a national map collection that includes many of the earliest records of North American geography. What makes this map particularly significant is that it represents the first time Canada’s name appears in print form. Until the printing of Forlani’s map, the name Canada had only appeared in some manuscript depictions that were unavailable to the public. The Forlani map was created only a few decades after Jacques Cartier’s historic voyages in 1534 and 1535 up the Saint Lawrence River. The map indicates that Canada is situated in the exact location occupied by Quebec City to-day. It also cites the Arctic Ocean (“Oceano Settentrionale”), “Tiera de Laborador,” “Stadacone” (the Iroquois settlement at the future Quebec City), and “Saguenai.” Typical of the maps of this era, Forlani included images of various types of sailing ships and unusual sea creatures in the Atlantic Ocean. The coastline features however compare accurately with modern maps, proof of the fact that Forlani knew how to incorporate knowledge about North America’s physical form from navigation charts and explorers’ descriptions. Since Forlani was a commercial printer who re-inked his plates on demand, the exact number of prints made of this map is unknown, adding an element of mystery to this treasure.

Caroline Beaudoin