New England

Smith was an explorer in detail of the Chesapeake Bay and its first mapmaker. Eight years later he was far from the first to coast today’s Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, but he was the best to map it as of the year 1616. Omitting to show any native settlements, or even the brief Sagadahock English settlement of 1608, his map is peppered with imaginary English place names of his own fanciful coinage, including the name “New England,” as a Florida-style real estate promotional. The effort bore fruit. “Plimouth” became Plimoth in 1620, although his fine cartography and inspiriting publications did not earn him an invite at Plymouth Rock.