“A Rude View”: Bewildered Colonists and Northeastern Algonquian Mapmaking

Nathan Braccio, PhD

Assistant Professor of History, Furman University

In some of the earliest recorded encounters between Europeans and Algonquian-speaking communities in present-day New England, the Algonquians made maps. While those first maps have not survived, most extant maps from the region before 1650 were made by Algonquians.

In this presentation, Dr. Braccio will discuss the features of Northeastern Algonquian mapmaking in the colonial period. When drawn on paper, these maps became hybrid Algonquian-English product. The hand-drawn lines and words became a battleground for competing versions of the Northeastern/New England landscape. 

Nathan Braccio is an Assistant Professor at Furman University. Prior to Furman, he taught at Clark University and Lesley University. He received his PhD from the University of Connecticut. His research focuses on differing cultural understandings of space, mapmaking, violence, and warfare among English colonists and Northeastern Algonquian communities. Beyond his book, Creating New England, Defending the Northeast, Nathan’s work has been published in Ethnohistory, The Journal of Early American Studies and the Historical Journal of Massachusetts.  More about Nathan’s ongoing projects and digital work can be found on his website, NathanBraccio.com.

NOTE:  ALL REGISTRANTS will receive a Zoom link via email prior to the lecture.