Episode 186: Max Edelson, The New Map of the British Empire

by Holly WhiteMay 15, 2018

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As a result of Great Britain’s victory in the Seven Years’ War, British North America expanded so that it stretched from the Atlantic seaboard west to the Mississippi River and from Hudson Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence south to Florida. Plus, it also included islands in the Caribbean.

How exactly would Great Britain, centered on a small island over 3,000 miles away, govern this new, expanded North American empire?

Max Edelson, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Virginia and author of The New Map of Empire: How Britain Imagined America Before Independence, helps us explore this question by taking us on an investigation of the Board of Trade and its General Survey of North America.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Episode Summary

Max Edelson, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Virginia and author of The New Map of Empire: How Britain Imagined America Before Independence, helps us explore how Great Britain intended to govern its newly expanded empire in North America by taking us on an investigation of the Board of Trade and its General Survey of North America.

As we explore the Board of Trade’s plans for British North America, Max reveals details about the size of the British Empire after the Seven Years’ War; King George III’s order to the Board of Trade and its response to that order; And, information about the General Survey of North America and how the Board of Trade envisioned surveys and maps as the key to Great Britain’s better management of its North American colonies.

What You’ll Discover

The British Empire after the Seven Years’ War
How Great Britain intended to govern its expanded North American empire
The Board of Trade
King George III’s orders to the Board of Trade concerning colonial governance
“The Report on Acquisitions in America”
The General Survey of North America
Samuel Holland and the Survey of St. John and the Canadian Maritimes
MapScholar
How to conduct a plane table survey
The Proclamation Line of 1763
Native American response to Great Britain’s maps and General Survey
Native American-made maps
How the surveys informed the incorporation of new peoples into the British Empire
The Ceded Islands
The role the maps of the General Survey played in the American Revolution
How geography and maps can help us better understand the American Revolution

Links to People, Places, and Publications

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Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what might have happened if the Board of Trade had never ordered its General Survey of North America and the Ceded Islands? How would the history of British North America be different?