The increased interest shown after 1600 by Europeans in the colonization of North America is concisely shown in this map. It shows the English colonies established by 1620 in Virginia and New England, together with the new Dutch colony of the New Netherlands. This map is the first to show New Amsterdam (New York), founded only in 1626. For New England, de Laet clearly relied on John Smith's map for many place-names (26, 27), but mixed them with those derived from indigenous sources and recorded on older maps (e.g., Norembegua). This is also the first map to show the name Massachusets.

The first map to name the region of "New England" was published by John Smith in 1616, in an effort to promote colonization. (26 is an early German copy.) Smith asked Prince Charles--later, Charles I--to replace the indigenous place-names with properly "English" ones. This apparently imperialist act in fact constituted only a symbolic event. Subsequent settlement by English colonists--the Pilgrims landed in 1620--was focussed along the Charles River and led to several settlements; these can be seen in the 1635 version of Smith's map (27). Only three names from Smith's map survived through use by the settlers: Cape Ann; Charles River; and, Plymouth. Otherwise, the European settlers imposed their own names or adapted indigenous names. The table below shows a selection of place-names from Massachusetts and Maine, showing the original names (if given by Smith), Smith's replacement names, and their approximate modern equivalents.

Massachusetts:

Original Names Smith's Names Modern Names (Approximate)

Cape Cod Cape James Cape Cod

Chawum Barwick Barnstable

Accomack Plimouth Plymouth

Sagoquas Oxford Marshfield

London Scituate

Massachusetts Charles Charles
River River River

Totant Fawmouth Revere

"Undiscovered Bristow Beverly
Country"

Naemkeck Bastable Gloucester

Cape Cape Anne Cape Ann
Trabigzanda

Aggawom South Hampton Ipswich

Maine:

Accomminticus Boston York

Sassanowes Snodoun Hill Mount
Mount Agamenticus

Point Kent Cape Elizabeth

Bahana Dartmouth Portland

Sandwich Falmouth

Harrington Casco Bay
Bay

Aucocisco The Base Freeport

Cape Elizabeth Small Point

Sagadohock Leth Popham

Kinebeck Edenborough Richmond

River Forth Kennebeck River

Pemmaquid St. Iohn Towne Pemaquid

Monahigan Barty Isle Monhegan Is.

Matinnack Willowby Isles Matinicus Is.

Point Travers Owls Head

Pembrock Bay Penobscot Bay

Smith's configuration of the region of "New England" was successful, in that the name stuck and that the region was the subject of several maps through the 1600s (e.g., 28). On the other hand, English settlement in the region remained quite scattered until 1700. Wells's map of that date places the region into the context of all of the English plantations in North America. In this respect, New England can be understood as comprising the area of English settlement east of the former Dutch colony of New Netherlands (New York).