BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Title:
Carte des Terrains au nord de la
Riviere Mohac
Date:
1797
Description:
Manuscript, pen-and-ink
1. Mohawk River Valley (N.Y.)--Maps--Early works to 1800
2. Real property--Mohawk River Valley (N.Y.)
Notes:
1. Description based on microfiche,
with title supplied by Reed Library. Original map not
available.
2. Original map in Archives of the Holland Land
Company (Municipal Archives of Amsterdam). Image scanned from 4 x 5"
microfiche from Holland Land Company Project, Daniel A. Reed Library, SUNY
Fredonia. Contact Reed Library for reproduction rights.
Carte des Terrains au nord de la Riviere Mohac, 1797
The decades following the conclusion of the American Revolution in 1783 saw the rapid settlement by Euro-Americans of most of upstate New York. Prior to the Revolution, settlement was limited to Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and the eastern part of the Mohawk Valley. A combination of French military power (prior to 1760), British colonial policies, and resistance by the powerful Iroquois confederacy prevented the spread of English speaking settlers.
After the conclusion of the Revolution these obstacles were largely
removed, and the result was a land rush into northern and western New
York. Settlement was fostered by the government of New York State as
well as by real estate speculators and land developers. One of
the most important of the land developers was the Holland Land Company,
which was funded by a group of investors in Amsterdam. The Holland
Land Company was responsible for the stablishment of most of the initial
European settlements west of the Genesee River. More information,
including maps, can be found at The
Holland Land Company Resource Page, and at the Holland Land Company
Archives at the Daniel
A. Reed Library (SUNY Fredonia).
This map of an area north of
the Mohawk River is from the papers of the Holland Land Company.
Although the holdings of the company were mostly in western New York and
Pennsylvania, it had small holdings elsewhere in the state and considered
making purchases in many locations. Consequently, maps like this one
showing property divisions in various parts of New York and Pennsylvania
can be found in the Holland Land Company papers. Curiously, the map is in English in spite of its French title.
William Chazanof, Joseph Ellicott and the Holland Land Company.
D.W. Meinig, "Geography of Expansion," in John H. Thompson, ed., Geography of New York State, 140-71.
William Wyckoff, The Developer's Frontier: The Making of the Western New York Landscape.
Revised 7/22/04