The Island of St. Christophers alias St. Kitts

St. Christopher's or St. Kitts the earliest English colony in the West Indies and one of the earliest maps of just St. Kitts on a single sheet.


Moll's map, is based on the survey performed by Andrew Norwood. It is not known when Norwood performed his survey but maps based on its geography were published by Philip Lea and John Thornton in the late 17th century. Nicholas Sanson issued a map of the island in his world atlas c.1660, showing a substantially different geography suggesting that the survey took place in the second half of the 17th century.


Both Lea and Thornton's map show St. Kitts and several other islands with British interests on one sheet, while this smaller map, which first appeared in 1729, is one of the earliest maps to show St. Kitts as a single island. A small panel on the lower left narrates the location of the map, together with its see-saw history, stating that the English settlers suffered greatly in the wars against the French but that the latter finally lost any interest in the island after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, settling the War of the Spanish Succession. [WIND4195]