Fascinating ethnographical map of pre-colonial North America showing the distribution of indigenous peoples and cultures.

The map divides the continent into twenty-three regions, each corresponding to the main Indigenous culture that flourished there. These regions are colour-coded and referenced in the legend along the right-hand margin. Uninhabited or unrecorded areas, such as Newfoundland and the Mojave Desert, are left uncoloured.

Topographical detail is minimal, showing only principal mountains, bodies of water, and coastal features. The map extends from the Polar Sea in the north to Panama in the south, also encompassing most of Greenland, Iceland, and the part of the Caribbean.

This map is based on the research of James Cowles Prichard, FRS (1786–1848) a British physician and ethnologist regarded as a foundational figure in early anthropology. Pritchard’s work on which this map is based, “The Natural History of Man” (1843), promoted a then radical belief in monogenism: the belief that all humans share a single common origin, descending from the same ancestral source. Writing in a pre-Darwinian era, Prichard’s research prefigured later evolutionary thought. He was an early member of the Aborigines’ Protection Society and advocated humanitarian treatment of Indigenous peoples.

As is typical of 19th-century ethnographica, Prichard’s map reveals the intellectual limitations and cultural biases of its time. His classifications were influenced by the period’s scientific racism, limited progress in the study of biology, and dependence on secondary sources. For instance, he employs colonial terms such as “Eskimaux” for the Inuit and “Black Foot Indians” for the Niitsitapi. Furthermore, Prichard’s delineations rely on superficial factors like physical appearance and geography, whereas modern anthropology classifies Indigenous peoples through linguistic, cultural, and material evidence—approaches that yield greater accuracy and respect for Indigenous self-identification. 

Nevertheless, Prichard’s belief in human unity and his advocacy for Indigenous rights set him apart from many of his contemporaries, making this map a fascinating record of progressive anthropological belief in the earliest days of the discipline. 

Original hand colour. [AMER2416]