# Mapping the New Empire: Britain's General Survey of North America, 1763-1782

Britain's decisive victory in the Seven Years' War dramatically enlarged its American empire. Once confined to the coastal plain, British North America extended after 1763 from Hudson's Bay to the Florida Keys and past the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River, at least on paper. To understand these new territories and bring them under control, the Board of Trade launched the General Survey of North America. The maps and charts created by this vast cartographic project were intended as blueprints for an expansive new empire. Although the unfinished Survey collapsed during the chaos of the American Revolution, its findings were incorporated into the famed Atlantic Neptune atlas and appeared on maps issued to British commanders. Through the War for Independence and beyond, the General Survey provided a critical foundation of geographic knowledge about the continent.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2008
- By: John W. Kluge Center (library Of Congress)
- Genres: History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021687951/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021687951?play=1)