Le Lac Ontario avec les lieux circonouisimes et particulierment les cinq nations Iroquois (Lake Ontario with the surrounding places and particularly the five Iroquois nations).
The First Don Map
Le Lac Ontario avec les lieux circonouisimes et
particulierment les cinq nations Iroquois (Lake Ontario with the
surrounding places and particularly the five Iroquois nations).
The first map to show the Don River was drawn by a French
Jesuit priest in 1688. Father Rafféix's map was of all of Lake
Ontario and Erie. To orient youself, North is at the bottom of
the map. This page shows a detail of the Toronto area followed by
the entire map.
| The detail of the map clearly shows Toronto Bay, a
finger of land that became the Toronto Islands in the
great storm of 1858, and a small wiggly line leading
North. That humble line, unlabeled on the original map,
is the Don River! There are 2 villages shown, Teyagon (often spelt Taiagon), which is on the Humber, and Ganestiquiagon which is on the Rouge. Portages lead from both of these north and connect with the rivers that lead into what is labelled Lac Tarontho now called Lake Simcoe. The portage up the Humber was a particularly important trade route whose history is lovingly detailed in Percy Robinsons great book Toronto during the French R;égime 1615 - 1793. |
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Entire Map - Click it for a
larger (386K) version
© mark wilson 1998