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The mapping of Canada
If you’ve ever gone on a family vacation to a new and different place, or visited the house of a new friend, chances are directions and a map helped get you there. Although you’re probably most familiar with road maps, there are all kinds of other maps that chart the geography and shoreline of a country, and indicate rain and snow fall, the location of mineral deposits and forests, the depths of oceans and the height of mountains, and the populations of towns and cities.
We have all this information and a lot more about our own country thanks to the hard work of James White. Born in Ingersoll, Ontario, in 1863, James studied geology at the Royal Military College and became the Geographer and Chief Draftsman for the Geological Survey of Canada in 1883. During his ten years there, he and a team of 20 cartographers (a formal name for mapmakers) produced the first edition of the Atlas of Canada. Published in 1906, 6,000 copies of the Atlas were sent to schools, public libraries, banks and newspapers—both in Canada and around the world.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Atlas, Canada Post created a domestic rate (51¢) stamp that shows a likeness of James White, a modern map of Canada and a set of original mapmaking tools.
So, the next time you’re travelling anywhere and a map gets pulled out, remember James White and his early efforts to record some of Canada’s most defining geography and geology.
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