Phélipeaux and Pontchartrain

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Bellin map of the Great Lakes from 1744

Phélipeaux (also: Phelipeaux , Philippaux ) and Pontchartrain were two phantom islands in the Upper Lake that first appeared on a map by the Parisian cartographer Jacques-Nicolas Bellin in 1744 .

They were later adopted by other cartographers, including John Mitchell in 1755 . This so-called Mitchell map was the basis for the future demarcation of the boundaries between the USA and British Canada during the peace negotiations in Paris in 1783 . Accordingly, Phélipeaux was added to the USA, Pontchartrain to the British crown.

The two islands, which were shown only slightly smaller than the actually existing Isle Royale , could not be found by later expeditions and disappeared from the maps from 1824. Today it is believed that Bellin invented the islands in honor of his patron Louis Phélypeaux , Count of Maurepas and Pontchartrain.

Web links

credentials

  1. ^ Willis F. Dunbar, George S. May: Michigan, a History of the Wolverine State. 3. Edition. Grand Rapids 1995, ISBN 0802870554 , p. 87.
  2. ^ William E. Lass: Minnesota's Boundary with Canada, Its Evolution Since 1783. 1980, ISBN 0873511476 , pp. 43f.
  3. Marlin Bree: Call of the North Wind. 1996, ISBN 0943400902 , p. 119.