A History of Canada in Ten Maps

Epic Stories of Charting a Mysterious Land

By: Adam Shoalts

Winner of the 2018 Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Award for Nonfiction

Longlisted for the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize

Shortlisted for the 2018 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction

The sweeping, epic story of the mysterious land that came to be called “Canada” like it’s never been told before.

Every map tells a story. And every map has a purpose--it invites us to go somewhere we've never been. It’s an account of what we know, but also a trace of what we long for.

Ten Maps conjures the world as it appeared to those who were called upon to map it. What would the new world look like to wandering Vikings, who thought they had drifted into a land of mythical creatures, or Samuel de Champlain, who had no idea of the vastness of the landmass just beyond the treeline?

Adam Shoalts, one of Canada’s foremost explorers, tells the stories behind these centuries old maps, and how they came to shape what became “Canada.”

It’s a story that will surprise readers, and reveal the Canada we never knew was hidden. It brings to life the characters and the bloody disputes that forged our history, by showing us what the world looked like before it entered the history books. Combining storytelling, cartography, geography, archaeology and of course history, this book shows us Canada in a way we've never seen it before.

©2017 Adam Shoalts (P)2025 Allen Lane

Critic reviews

Shortlisted for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction
Winner of the Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Award for English Non-Fiction
Longlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize

"It's an epic journey and Shoalts relishes the brutal struggles for dominance, the restless swagger of men such as Peter Pond, the tales of mammoths and wendigos carefully noted by David Thompson, the ghastly cannibalism that occurred on Captain John Franklin's expedition to the Coppermine River.… Shoalts has done an elegant job of patchworking the stories together and reminding us of the vast and brooding influence of geography on our history." —Globe and Mail

"Shoalts analyzes early maps in order to paint a picture of the land that would become a nation, bringing its earliest stories, voices, and battles to life. Combining geography, cartography, history and anthropology, Shoalts leaves no stone unturned." —CBC

“[A] marvel…. If you like maps, you’ll like this book; if you like both maps and crisply recounted Canadian history, you’ll love it. Shoalts … takes you inside [explorers’] heads as they face fear, doubt and despair in tandem with cold, starvation and rebellious wanting-to-turn-back companions…. Canadian history writ well." —Winnipeg Free Press