Aaron Arrowsmith

Aaron Arrowsmith (1750–1823) was an English cartographer, engraver and publisher and founding member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers. He moved to Soho Square, London from Winston, County Durham when about twenty years of age, and was employed by John Cary, the engraver and William Faden. He became Hydrographer to the Prince of Wales ca. 1810 and subsequently to the King in 1820. In January 1790 he made himself famous by his large chart of the world on Mercator projection. Four years later he published another large map of the world on the globular projection, with a companion volume of explanation. The maps of North America (1796) and Scotland (1807) are the most celebrated of his many later productions. He left two sons, Aaron and Samuel, the elder of whom was the compiler of the Eton Comparative Atlas, of a Biblical atlas, and of various manuals of geography.

The business was thus carried on in company with John Arrowsmith (1790–1873), nephew of the elder Aaron. In 1821, they published a more complete North American map from a combination of a maps obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company and Aaron's previous one.

Mount Arrowsmith, situated east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, is named for Aaron Arrowsmith and his nephew John Arrowsmith.

Maps published

Arrowsmith's "Map Exhibiting All the New Discoveries in the Interior Parts of North America, dated January 1, 1795

• Chart of the world on Mercator's projection, exhibiting all the new discoveries to the present time: with the tracks of the most distinguished navigators since the year 1700, carefully collected from the best charts, maps, voyages, &c extant. , 1790 (8 sheets)
• A Map Exhibiting All the New Discoveries in the Interior Parts of North America, January 1, 1795 (Other editions 1801, 1802, 1804 and 1816 featuring roads)
• Chart of the South Pacific, 1798
• A New Map of Africa, 1802
• Chart Of The West Indies And Spanish Dominions In North America, 1803 (4 sheets)
• A New Map of Mexico and Adjacent Provinces Compiled from Original Documents., 1810 (4 sheets)
• Map of Countries Round the North Pole, 1818
• Ogden map (North America), 1821 (2^nd edition : 1834)

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Integrated Land Management Bureau, Government of British Columbia.
• Aaron Arrowsmith's Map of North America and the Lewis and Clark Expedition