The Landsat Program - Images
Cape Henry & the Chesapeake Bay
An overlay of Capitan John Smith's map of the Chesapeake Bay on a Landsat 7 image of the Bay.
Posted: April 26, 2007
John Smith's map of the Chesapeake Bay. Image credit: Library of Congress
Four-hundred years ago, on April 26, 1607, after 144 days at sea, John Smith made landfall on Virginia's Cape Henry. The cape, named in honor of the then-Prince of Wales, Henry Frederick, marks the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. Smith and the other 103 Virginia Company sailors went on to establish Jamestown, Virginia, England's first permanent settlement in North America.
In 1608, John Smith embarked on a three-month exploration of the Chesapeake Bay. His careful surveying resulted in the map shown to the right. Using Smith's survey information, a map of the bay was engraved by William Hole in London and published in 1624. The overlay of Smith's map on the circa 2000 orthorectified Landsat image mosaic shows how remarkably accurate Smith's survey was.
More event images
