A new article in Atlas Obscura recounts the strange history of inaccurate North American waterways. In the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries, it was relatively common for cartographers to include a northwest sea, river or straight, that cut across the United States. These maps, of course, matched up more closely with imperialist aspirations than with any gathered evidence. Any passageway across the United States would have been incredibly valuable to the British and French economically, which encouraged cartographers to choose myths and hearsay in lieu of real evidence. Once explorers began visiting more of what is now the US, these maps disappeared.
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