Illustrated map of Vancouver area with indigenous place names

Illustrated map of Vancouver area with indigenous place names

British Columbia, map, place, name, origin, First Nations, indigenous

A map of the Vancouver and North Shore area, illustrated with animals and trees and a totem pole. The map, created by Englishwoman Jessiman who moved to Canada in 1928, appears to be hand-drawn with ink and pencil on paper and measures 56cm x 77cm. The place names are given in their native language, and a legend is included with the English translation of the name. From the design of the map and its illustrations the colonial history is not evident, which it would have certainly been in 1936 Vancouver and the surrounding area. The map highlights the numerousness of BC’s indigenous communities and their languages, an apparent cultural relationship with nature through these place names that is markedly scarce in the colonial ethos of the time. Furthermore, being created by an Englishwoman, is potentially symbolic of the latter museum scramble age in the early twentieth century, showing a colonial interest in the indigenous communities that inhabit British Columbia.

Mary Jessiman

City of Vancouver Archives technical and cartographic drawing collection

http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/city-of-vancouver-archives-map-collection-2

9 July 1936

Sebastian Jones

City of Vancouver/Mary Jessiman
MAP 51 - An Indian map. Vancouver
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/indian-map-of-vancouver

English and multiple unidentified First Nations languages

Visual - map

20th century British Columbia