Decolonial Maps?

 

All these maps that show vague “tribal areas” - without pinpointing (and naming) the Indigenous towns and roads that preceded settler colonialism - only serve to reinforce the myth that Native people roamed aimlessly over an undeveloped land.

This map shows the area that is now western New York and southern Ontario in the late 18th century. Major Indigenous towns are represented by triangles, colonizer forts by squares. The circles are settler towns. (Look closely. They're there.) 

From Tanner, Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History, University of Oklahoma Press (1987). Cartography by Miklos Pinther.

I emphasize that the map only shows major Native towns. When George Washington ordered a genocidal campaign against the Haudenosaunee of central New York in 1779, his troops burned no less than forty towns in the Finger Lakes region.

Or consider the map below, prepared for Lisa Brooks's 2018 history of King Philip's War, Our Beloved Kin. You can find it (and others) on her website. This one is at https://ourbelovedkin.com/media/maps/pocasset-pokanoket-placenames-MAP-QR1.jpg