Mapping the Landscape of Native New England

Stiles’ map of the Connecticut shoreline shows the mouth of the Pequot River, today called the Thames, and the towns of New London, on the left bank, and a portion of Groton, on the right bank.  Originally a village in the Pequot homeland known as Nameaug (“fishing place” or “where fish are taken”), New London was settled by John Winthrop, Jr. and a number of English colonists in 1646 and called Pequot Plantation or Pequot Town.  It was later renamed New London, after the English metropolis, by the Connecticut General Assembly in March of 1658. 

To see more of Stiles’ map, a transcription, and metadata list, click here. Click on the following links for a current snapshot of the area, informal photographs, aerial photographs, and further information on the Thames River.  The map is part of the Ezra Stiles Collection at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

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