Epic Wanderer, the primary complete-duration biography of mapmaker David Thompson (1770–1857), is about within the overdue eighteenth and early 19th centuries towards the large canvas of dramatic rivalries among america and British North The united states, among the Hudson’s Bay Corporate and its Montreal-based totally rival, the North West Corporate, and a few of the more than a few First International locations thrown into disarray through the appearance of weapons, horses, and alcohol.
Less celebrated than his contemporaries Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Thompson spent just about 3 a long time, starting in 1784, surveying and mapping greater than 1.2 million sq. miles of in large part uncharted Indian territory. Touring around the prairies, over the Rockies, and directly to the Pacific, Thompson reworked the uncooked information of his explorations right into a map of the Canadian West. Measuring ten ft through seven ft and showing spectacular accuracy, the map was crucial to the politicians and diplomats who may make a decision the way forward for the wealthy and promising lands of the West. But its author labored with out private glory and died in penniless obscurity.
Drawing widely on Thompson’s private journals and illustrated along with his particular sketches, problematic computer pages, and the map itself, Epic Wanderer charts the lifetime of a person who risked the whole thing within the title of medical development and exploration.
