Vincenzo Coronelli Map of the Great Lakes
This rare 1694 map by Vincenzo Coronelli is the most important depiction of the Great Lakes and the headwaters of the Mississippi River to appear in the late 17th century. This map Covers all five Great Lakes and extends westward as far as the Mississippi River valley. This map is a careful study of the Great Lakes Region and reveals Coronelli’s fascination with this area.
Coronelli used cartographic information from the reports of Jesuit Missionaries and explorers who were active in these regions throughout the mid to late 18th century.
These include the explorations of La Salle, Hennepin, Marquette, Jolliet and others. The map dotted with forts, Indian villages, and missionary stations. Shows the River De Chekagou roughly where Chicago is today, the Ottawa River fur trade route into Georgian Bay and a well developed depiction of Green Bay in Wisconsin.
This map is also the most accurate early mapping of Lake Superior, in which both Keweenaw Peninsula (P. Kioanan) and Isle Royale (I. Miniong) are located. Features none of the mythical islands that appear in the Bellin map which appeared 100 years later. Decorated with numerous wonderful vignettes depicting the lives of American Indians. This map is essentially an elaboration upon the 1688 Nolin/Coronelli map, Partie Occidentale du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France…”
Vincenzo Coronelli (1650–1718) was an Italian cartographer and globe maker. He was apprenticed to a woodcut printer at ten years old, but then entered the Franciscan Order as a novice at thirteen. In 1701 he was made Father General of the Order, but was removed from office by the Pope three years later after complaints from fellow clerics.
Coronelli mainly lived and worked in Venice, but an opportunity arose to make his name when an early commission for two globes for the Duke of Parma brought him to the attention of the Cardinal d’Estrées, who summoned him to Paris to create two huge globes for Louis XIV. They each had a diameter of fifteen feet, and were built with trapdoors so they could be worked on from the inside. He was made royal cartographer to Louis XIV in 1681 as a result, and worked in Paris with Jean Baptiste Nolin, who went on to become the French publisher for all of Coronell’s work.
* View historic maps of the Great Lakes at
Research Laboratories of Archaeology
http://rla.unc.edu/emas/emmgl.html#sec_a
Coronelli used cartographic information from the reports of Jesuit Missionaries and explorers who were active in these regions throughout the mid to late 18th century.
These include the explorations of La Salle, Hennepin, Marquette, Jolliet and others. The map dotted with forts, Indian villages, and missionary stations. Shows the River De Chekagou roughly where Chicago is today, the Ottawa River fur trade route into Georgian Bay and a well developed depiction of Green Bay in Wisconsin.
This map is also the most accurate early mapping of Lake Superior, in which both Keweenaw Peninsula (P. Kioanan) and Isle Royale (I. Miniong) are located. Features none of the mythical islands that appear in the Bellin map which appeared 100 years later. Decorated with numerous wonderful vignettes depicting the lives of American Indians. This map is essentially an elaboration upon the 1688 Nolin/Coronelli map, Partie Occidentale du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France…”
Vincenzo Coronelli (1650–1718) was an Italian cartographer and globe maker. He was apprenticed to a woodcut printer at ten years old, but then entered the Franciscan Order as a novice at thirteen. In 1701 he was made Father General of the Order, but was removed from office by the Pope three years later after complaints from fellow clerics.
Coronelli mainly lived and worked in Venice, but an opportunity arose to make his name when an early commission for two globes for the Duke of Parma brought him to the attention of the Cardinal d’Estrées, who summoned him to Paris to create two huge globes for Louis XIV. They each had a diameter of fifteen feet, and were built with trapdoors so they could be worked on from the inside. He was made royal cartographer to Louis XIV in 1681 as a result, and worked in Paris with Jean Baptiste Nolin, who went on to become the French publisher for all of Coronell’s work.
* View historic maps of the Great Lakes at
Research Laboratories of Archaeology
http://rla.unc.edu/emas/emmgl.html#sec_a
Two of Coronelli's Globes at the Archaeological Museum in Venice, Italy 2001
