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Primary sourceDocument1821

Thomas Ridout Map of Grand River Indian Lands

Thomas Ridout · 1821

An 1821 survey map of the Six Nations lands along the Grand River, the territory granted to Brant's Mohawk followers after the Revolutionary War.

Maps the Grand River lands granted to the Six Nations, the territory Brant led his Mohawk followers to settle after the Revolution.

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Hand-drawn manuscript map on aged tan paper titled in ink as a plan of lands granted to the Six Nation Indians along the Grand River, running from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Lots are numbered and named, the river is traced in blue, and a small inset map appears in the lower left corner.
Thomas Ridout, survey of Six Nations lands along the Grand River, 1821.

About this source

What it is

This is a hand-drawn survey map, known as the Ridout Survey, completed in 1821 by Thomas Ridout, Surveyor General of Upper Canada. It shows the lands granted to the Six Nations along the Grand River, running from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, with numbered and named lots and an inset map.

Why it matters

These lands were granted under the 1784 Haldimand Proclamation to the Six Nations, including the Mohawk people Joseph Brant led to this territory after the American Revolution. The map documents the formal boundaries of a settlement that became central to Haudenosaunee life in Canada, and shows how colonial authorities recorded Indigenous land grants.

Look closer

  • What does the detail and precision of this survey tell you about why colonial governments made such maps?
  • Whose interests does a map like this serve, and whose voices are missing from it?
  • How might the Six Nations themselves have understood this land differently from how the surveyor recorded it?

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