A New Description of Carolina

A New Description of Carolina                                                                                         John SpeedFrom A Prospect of the most Famous Parts of the World1676LondonCopperplate engraving  One of the most attractive and desirable maps of the Carolinas, this map was based largely on the famed Ogilby-Moxon map of 1672 and on John Lederer’s second expedition to the region.  Points of interest include a long narrow savanna in the Piedmont area, the placing of a great lake (Ashley Lake) and a  great desert (a sandhill region).  Once regarded as “cartographic curiosities,” these notations  which came directly from John Lederer’s writings were questioned during his lifetime and into the next century. It was often assumed his writings were based on Indian myth, but years later  scholars determined that his writings were indeed based on fact.    Notice along the coast, Edista is today’s Edisto Island, Charles Town, though slightly displaced from its present location, i