Because European colonists could travel more swiftly by ship along the coastline than they could along rudimentary backcountry roads, water united the regional geography of eighteenth-century New England. Radiating nautical lines and detailed coastlines show the vital maritime connections between Boston, New England, and Acadia. In the eighteenth century, Boston had a powerful administrative reach over these territories.
Southack’s map focuses on harbors, bays, and seas, showing how ocean networks facilitated Britain’s growing ambitions in Nova Scotia. Boston is given special attention in an inset.
Southack’s cartographic choices reflect his unique position as commander of Massachusetts Bay’s Province Galley, a vessel that served as a kind of early naval force in New England waters. From the 1690s through the early 1700s, Southack spent nearly two decades patrolling these coasts, protecting colonial shipping and advancing imperial interests during Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713). The combination of the regional view and detailed Boston inset shows how the colony’s capital served as a base for projecting power northward during this crucial period of imperial expansion.