2010-10-06
13 分钟Thank you for downloading this episode of A History of the World in 100 Objects from BBC Radio 4.
The First World War began in 1756.
For the next seven years, Britain and France were to fight each other on land and sea,
in Europe and Africa, India and America.
It was the first truly global conflict, and it was particularly hard-fought in America.
A satirical account of the time explained why the two countries were fighting
over the chill wilderness of North America.
They are at present engaged in a very destructive war.
They have already spilled much blood, and all on account of each side
desiring to want greater quantities of fur than the other.
The pretext of the war is about some land a thousand leagues off, a country cold, desolate, and hideous.
A country of a people who were in possession from time immemorial.
The hideous land actually refers to Canada.
And the author, the poet and novelist Oliver Goldsmith, goes on to argue that
Britain and France are despoiling the legitimate inhabitants of the countries they explore and exploit.
From Canada, the war drifted south, and today's object is a map
which shows part of the area that the British moved into
as they captured the long line of French forts
that ran from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi, as far south as St. Louis.
The map was made around 1774, probably by a Native American,