The Modern Utility of Ford's Colonial Map of Barbados, 1674

Abstract

Richard Ford's 1674 map of colonial Barbados was one of the first economic maps of the British Empire, and, as such, plays a strong role in cartographic history. Ford's map contributes insights into further layers of colonial history, especially when combined in a geographic information system (GIS) with data from the Barbados Census of 1679 and modern elevation data. Settlement patterns were examined using the data of sugar mills from Ford's map with elevation and aspect information to determine whether there was a preference for building location. Further issues of artistic and realistic constraints on mapping accuracy were also examined. The accuracy of Ford's map comes into question when it is compared with the census of 1679. Ford's map claims to show every plantation on the island, but this is not verified by the census, which lists five times the number of planters. This deeper examination of the underutilized data from a printed map not only assesses the legitimacy of the map, both in terms of accuracy and of the claims set forth by their artists, but illustrates the discrepancy between the perceived completeness of the map and the abundance of narratives hidden in both it and other sources.

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