Merv O. Ahrens is an independent researcher from Canada who lives immediately adjacent to the Minnesota - Ontario boundary that traces the historic waterway into the Northwest. Following his retirement as an educator he has focused on the early history of his region. The development of the local fur trade and the geopolitics surrounding the establishment of international boundary in the Lake of the Woods - 49th N parallel part of the continent are his current interests. He has presented his findings at a number of conferences and has authored several journal articles on these topics.
The British Library in London, England, houses an internationally significant and relatively understudied copy of Dr. John Mitchell’s renowned 1755 map, renamed and reprinted circa 1775 A Map of the British Colonies in North America. . .[1] This map garnered particular attention due to its use in the 1782 boundary negotiations conducted by the British […]
French naval officer La Pérouse (Jean Francois de Galaup, Comte de la Pérouse) was one of many who actively supported the American Patriots in their war for independence from Britain. La Pérouse’s assignments included patrolling the North Atlantic where he directed the capture of numerous British merchant vessels.[1] His early 1781 outbound voyage from France […]
Captain Jonathan Carver’s Reconnaissance Captain Jonathan Carver was hired in August 1766 as a surveyor and draughtsman by Major Robert Rogers, the newly appointed governor-commandant of British Fort Michilimackinac. Rogers instructed Carver to familiarize himself with the northern Mississippi River basin and western Lake Superior region’s geography, prepare a map of the area and then, […]
