Bernard Ratzer's Plan of the City of New York, in North America: Surveyed in the Years 1766 & 1767 is the most comprehensively detailed and accurate map of the City at the time of the American Revolution. This "lower half" shows Brookland Parish (Brooklyn) and Governour's Island; the "upper half" of the two-section map shows Manhattan.

The colonial Brooklyn was largely agricultural; its population was below 20,000. The map shows with equal clarity a large number of cultivated fields and, in finely engraved detail, the areas of forest and salt meadow that represent the natural topography of pre-development New York. All of this extraordinary detail is completely and clearly preserved in our Perfect Recreation™.

We offer this Brooklyn map section individually and in combination with its Manhattan counterpart. This map includes the "key" to numbered Brooklyn features as well as Manhattan landmarks including Fort George, Trinity Church, The Exchange and various English military installations. It also features a wonderful landscape drawing of lower Manhattan and the harbor as seen from Governor's Island. Please use the "zoom" function to explore the extraordinary details of both maps.

About Bernard Ratzer

Bernard Ratzer was an exceptionally skilled military engineer who was recruited by the British Army and sent to America during the French and Indian War. He combined extremely precise cartography with intricate artistic detail.