Drawn at the height of British - American hostilities related to the War of 1812, the North American portions of this map heavily advocate for British interests. Despite being issued in 1812, the western boundary of American terminates at the Mississippi River - a clear rejection of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. There is a reason for this. By the turn on of the 19th century, it had become abundantly clear to everyone involved that the true wealth of North America lay in the fur trade, particularly the export of beaver pelts to the infinitely wealthy markets of Asia. By this time there were two forces in the fur trade, semi-independent American traders following in the footsteps of Louis and Clark and British traders operating under the jurisdiction of the Hudson Bay Company, whose territori.
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