Erasing Boundaries and Redrawing Lines: The Transition from Port Royal to Annapolis Royal, 1700-1713

Abstract

In 1710, the French ceded Port Royal to British forces after an eight-day siege. This marked the final exchange of the fort between these European powers after years of alternating authority. Geographic information and local knowledge were crucial to the European justification of territorial claims. Cartographic records and related materials from are therefore important for the understanding of French and British claims to Port Royal. This thesis uses these records and an expanded critical cartography framework to track the transition from French Port Royal to British Annapolis Royal, answering the following questions: how did the events of 1710 impact the ways people understood the area geographically? How was geographic information used as a tool? This thesis argues that the events of 1710, while quantitatively small, had a significant qualitative impact on British imperial aspirations in northeastern North America. Geographic representations combined local knowledge and imperial imaginings to make territorial claims.