Among the most well-known mapmakers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was the London-based Arrowsmith family. The information used to create the Arrowsmith map came from the British Admiralty and, more importantly, from surveyors and mapmakers who worked in the fur trade, such as David Thompson.

This chart effectively shows that canoe-riding explorers and traders were responsible for shaping Canada's shape. The bow of a Haida sea group whaling canoe, Canada's oldest and most renowned canoe builder, Walter Walker, who was still building at 90 years of age, and Bill Mason, one of Canada's legendary canoeists in his "red canoe," are among the images on the map. Frances Hopkin is known for her famous series of canoe paintings.