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. In 1834 John published his "London Atlas", the best set of maps then in existence. He followed up the atlas with a long series of elaborate and carefully executed maps, those of Australia, America, Africa and India being especially valuable. In 1863 he received the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, of which body he was one of the founders.

His maps were very numerous, and the neatness and finished style of their execution gained for them a very extensive reputation, which, however, on closer examination, they have not permanently sustained. Arrowsmith was a most industrious collector of materials, but he was not equally judicious in using them ; and though, in various respects, useful and meritorious, his maps contain many great and important errors.

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", 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

*1911
* [http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=9247 Integrated Land Management Bureau, Government of British Columbia.]