BOK.NAM.AD1797

The American Gazetteer

This book is the result of an Act of Congress which tasked Jedidiah Morse, the "father of American Geography," to create a comprehensive gazetteer of the infant nation and its surrounding areas. Before this, Morse had written a geography book at the age of twenty-three and "gathered geographical data from geographers, mapmakers, and explorers," for thirteen years. He was obviously prepared for the task. His gazetteer not only contains an alphabetized compendium of geographical data, but also intricate maps showing the present territories of North America at the time (Massa).

Morse was a Calvinist pastor and the father to Samuel Morse, the inventor of the telegraph. In 1820, "he accepted an appointment from the Secretary of War to perform a large-scale study of Native Americans," which he later published in 1822 (Massa).
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Massa, Sean. “Jedidiah Morse.” Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, 2019.

1797 AD

Jedidiah Morse

S. Hall and Thomas & Andrews

Boston

North America

Mexico

Mesoamerica

South America

Caribbean Sea

18th Century

Print

History of Writing Collection See all items with this value

English

Stamp from the "Lee Library Association" on the verso side of the front cover

"[? ?] [Root?]" handwritten on the top of the recto side of the first endpaper

Geography See all items with this value

Gazetteer

Morse, Jedidiah, 1761-1826, comp. The American gazetteer, exhibiting, in alphabetical order, a much more full and accurate account, than has been given, of the states, provinces, counties, cities ... on the American continent, also of the West-India islands, and other islands appendant to the continent, and those newly discovered in the Pacific Ocean, describing the extent ... of the several countries ... with a particular description of the Georgia western territory ... / collected and compiled from the best authorities, and arranged with great care, by, and under the direction of Jedidiah Morse, D.D. ... Illustrated with seven new and neat maps. Published according to Act of Congrefs. Boston: S. Hall and Thomas & Andrews, 1797.