La Terra de Hochelaga nellaNova Francia by MAP]. RAMUSIO, Giovanni Battista

Venice. 1556.. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 28.8x 39cm, (113/8" x 153/8"), trimmed,bottom edge trimmed touching or including the frame line without textloss, a good clear strike on watermark paper in fine condition. A Planof Huron-Iroquois settlement at present-day Montreal, this is the firstpublished plan of a settlement in North America and the first plan of thesite of Montreal. Kershaw, K.A. 16. First Edition; Ganong, Crucial Mapsp. 303-314; Goss, The Mapping of North America #7. - From Navigationi etViaggi. Probably engraved by Gastaldi, published in Venice. JacquesCartier, the great French explorer, visited the village of Hochelaga(which means beaver dam or beaver lake) on the island of Montreal in1535. The village was near a mountain the explorer named Mount Royal orMonte Real, which is printed near the mid-point on the left side of themap. This is the first appearance of this name on a printed map.Cartier's account was published in the third volume of Ramusio's Dellenavigationi et viaggi in 1556 along with this woodcut illustration basedon the narrative. It illustrates the narrative described by Cartier andthe central area is flanked top and bottom by depictions of walledstockade constructions and the cornfields around the village are alsoshown. Also included are many of the things described by Cartier: themythical large welcome is depicted in the clasping of hands by aFrenchman (presumably Cartier) and a native chief, and the advantage oftwo-story fortifications is demonstrated. The lodges within the fort areexceedingly symmetrical, but with each family unit indicated by a fire,they were probably intended to indicate that they were both single familyand multiple family or extended family dwellings. It is not clear who theHochelagans were, although most likely either Huron or Iroquois. Thevillage was gone by the time Champlain arrived. Today, a stone markerrecalling the former village is placed on land adjacent to McGillUniversity, believed to be in the vicinity of the location of the villagevisited by Cartier in 1535. The site of the marker is designated aNational Historic Site of Canada. In this first edition of the woodblock, the trees have a rounded appearance while the smoke of the fireis transparent and the boards in the wall of the village are clearlyvisible. .