This map is titled “An Accurate Map of the English Colonies in North America bordering on the River Ohio”, a scarce early map of the British Colonies in North America and one of the earliest maps to appear in a British publication. A black and white map, there is no date and no engraver’s marks or publisher listed on the map, but it was published in London in 1754, and it shows the British Colonies extending out to the Ohio River, which was a direct encroachment upon the claims of the French in the region. The map also depicts boundary lines in a curious way: the lines trend northward, rather than to the west, and westward would become the more standardized depiction following the publication of John Mitchell’s map in 1755. The map includes a second Carolina as well, far to the west of “N.Carolina”, and this name refers to the Carolana Grant - Carolana, or the "land of Charles," was the area south of Virginia granted by King Charles to his attorney general, Sir Robert Heath, in October 1629. The grant was part of the Crown’s policy to expand England's overseas empire at little royal expense or effort by giving proprietary charters to individuals who were then obligated to develop their holdings, and as the land changed hands, that seemed to highlight the conflicts the French and British had with each other over who really had a better claim to the land. The present map was copied from Henry Overton's larger and important broadside map of the same title, published in 1754, which was the first printed map to show George Washington’s name in print. A second state of the map was issued later on, with the title changed from "English Colonies" to "British Colonies" and minor changes to the text. The present map was issued in the Universal Magazine in December, 1754 as a reduced version of Overton’s map, and the reference to George Washington is one of the details omitted from the present map - there is no text at the sides or any reference to Washington in the map itself - and it seems like the Overton map and this one were intended not just to provide news to the British public, but to arouse British sentiment against the French. The map has two folds to fit in the magazine and measures 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. wide, with clear details and lettering, creases and wear along the edges, a half inch tear at the top and bottom of one fold, and a light brown spot in the lower right margin. A map of the American colonies from December, 1754 which highlights the tensions between the French and British at the time and boiled over into the French and Indian War.