Moll, Herman

Herman Moll (1654?–1732), probably born in Germany or the United Provinces, has been described by Reinhartz as “Great Britain’s most celebrated geographer and mapmaker of the first half of the eighteenth century.” In the 1690s he worked largely for others, including Robert Morden and Greenville Collins, for whom he engraved several charts for Great Britain’s Coasting Pilot. In 1701 he issued A System of Geography, illustrated with many of his own maps; several later editions followed, retitled The Compleat Geographer from 1709. Throughout his career Moll frequently used his cartography to advance British territorial claims and policy worldwide. Among his most influential works was This Map of North America According To Ye Newest and Most Exact Observations, the celebrated “Codfish Map,” in which he labelled the Atlantic Ocean the “Sea of the British Empire” to reinforce Britain’s claim to Newfoundland’s lucrative fishing grounds in its long-running dispute with France.