"[2] There are no written records that directly reference mapping by the Wappinger or the Lenape, the Native Americans who inhabited the New York City area before European colonization.
However, scholars assume the Native Americans who lived on the land that now comprises New York City, as in other places, passed down a record of the spatial distribution of their resources and territory via an oral tradition.
[5] No maps of the Great Trail are known to have existed; however, scholars hypothesize information on the trading route was passed down via oral tradition and possibly also impermanent bark scrolls similar to the Ojibwe wiigwaasabak.
[3] Thomas Dermer in a 1619 letter described a Lenape harbor pilot, at his request, drawing an accurate map of Manhattan and surrounding waters, drafting it in chalk on a seaman's chest.
Surveyors and cartographers active during this period of early modern Netherlandish cartography include Cryn Fredericks, Jacques Cortelyou, Andries Hudde and Johannes Vingboons.
[13] In 2021, the Brooklyn Historical Society published a digitized database of ~1,500 maps of New York City and the surrounding areas dating back to the 17th century.
[1] Reprinted and named Castello Plan in 1916 John Roberts, engraver Expanded edition published in 1868 Informational notes Citations Bibliography