Aaron Arrowsmith

Aaron Arrowsmith (1750–1823) was an English cartographer, engraver and publisher and founding member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers.

Life

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 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. Improperly called "Arrowsmith's projection," the globular projection used by Arrowsmith was invented by Giovan Battista Nicolosi, of Paternò, Sicily, in 1660, while Arrowsmith did not use it until 1794. The maps of North America (1796) and Scotland (1807) are the most celebrated of his many later productions.

In 1804, 63 maps drawn by Arrowsmith and Samuel Lewis of Philadelphia (publisher of William Clark's manuscript map of the Northwest) were published in the ''New and elegant General Atlas Comprising all Discoveries to the Present Time.'' Later editions of the atlas were published in 1805, 1812, and 1819. The 1804 and 1812 editions are digitized in the David Rumsey map collection.

Arrowsmith's 1808 map of the western and eastern hemisphere was updated, corrected and enlarged by James Gardner in 1825."James Gardner 1808-1840"
David L Walker, ''Sheetlines'', 101 (December 2014), pp31-38

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.

Aaron Arrowsmith the elder was responsible for organising the volume of maps for '' Rees's Cyclopædia'', 1802–19.

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

*''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'', 1 January 1795, with numerous other editions, including i
17961802
1811
1814
1818
1819
an
1824
The 1802 version of this map was studied closely by Meriwether Lewis prior to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the 1811 edition was updated with the published information from that expedition in the 1814 edition.
*''Chart of the Pacific Ocean Drawn from a great number of Printed and Ms. Journals...'', 1798
1820 edition
(9 sheets)
''Africa To The Committee and Members of the British Association'', 1802 (4 sheets)1811 edition''Chart of the West Indies And Spanish Dominions in North America'', 1803 (4 sheets)
*''Map of America'', 1804
1808 edition
1811 edition
*''Chart of the East Indies Islands, Exhibiting the several Passages between the Indian and Pacific Oceans'', 1800
1809 edition1812 edition1824 edition''A New Map of Mexico and Adjacent Provinces Compiled from Original Documents.'', 1810 (4 sheets)
*''Map of Countries Round the North Pole'', 1818

References

;Attribution
*

External links

Integrated Land Management Bureau, Government of British Columbia.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arrowsmith, Aaron
English geographers
English cartographers
1750 births
1823 deaths