The first maps of North America were approximations made during sea voyages along coastlines. Mapping the interior was more difficult and therefore happened later.

During this age of discovery, the Spanish, French, British, Dutch and Russians all made claim to some part of North America. However just sailing along a coast and making claims on maps was not enough to establish sovereignty. The successful colonies had to follow up their claims with productive settlements and support them with military might. The Native Americans who populated the continent when the Europeans arrived and began to build colonies were mostly eradicated by disease and war.

At first glance this map from 1600 looks like a jumble of place names. But if you first look for Cuba (the red dot) just above it you will find Florida (blue dot). Now you should be able to find the outline of a very broad North America. On the West Coast the area labeled “Astatlan” (green dot) is one of the earliest maps showing a location for the mythical Aztlán. Aztlán is the homeland in the north the Mexican people left to journey south in about 1050 CE. After the Spanish conquest of Mexico, the story of Aztlán gained importance and was reported by Fray Diego Durán among others in 1581 to be a kind of Eden-like paradise. These stories helped fuel Spanish expeditions to what is now the U.S. state of California. The legend of Aztlán was later used as a symbolic claim to American identity by the Chicano movement.