Paolo Forlani’s map of the world
Shakespeare once asked, “What’s in a name?” In the case of this map, a single place name — Canada — elevates it from an obscure piece of parchment into a historical treasure for Canadians.
Created in 1560 by Italian engraver Paolo Forlani, it is the first known map to bear the name Canada. It also contains two other place names familiar to many Canadians today — Saguenai (modern-day Saguenay, Quebec), and Stadacone (today spelled Stadacona), the latter an Iroquois village near what is now Quebec City that was visited by French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1535.
Forlani, a Venetian, based his map on an earlier one created in 1546 by Italian cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi that omitted Canada.