About "Map archive"
The stories behind historical maps from Library and Archives Canada's vast collection.

Can you see Canada? This 1560 map of the world by Italian engraver Paolo Forlani is the first known instance of the name "Canada" appearing on a printed map. (Map: Paolo Forlani, Paulus de Furlanis Veronensis opus hoc ex.mi cosmographi d[omi]ni Iacobi Gastaldi pedemontani instauravit, et dicavit ex.ti iur. vt doct[iss] et aurato aequiti d[omi]no Paulo Michaeli Vincentino, 1560, Library and Archives Canada e006581135)

Portions of Samuel de Champlain's first detailed map of New France, published in 1613, were created with the help of First Nations people. (Map: Samuel de Champlain, Carte geographique de la Nouvelle Franse faictte par le sieur de Champlain Saint Tongois cappitaine ordinaire pour le Roy en la Marine. Faict len 1612, 1612, Library and Archives Canada, e010764733)

This image, depicting the sinking of the Breadalbane in 1853 near what is today known as Beechey Island, is one of several artworks dating from the mid-1800s, when Arctic exploration and public fascination with the polar region were at their peak. (Image: Edward Augustus Inglefield Collection/Library and Archives Canada, accession number 1989-399, c000227k)
