Historedia
EuropeEvent

Publication of The Present State of the West-Indies

When
1778
Where
London, place of publication
Episodes
1

In 1778 the English engraver and cartographer Thomas Kitchin saw his book The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe published in London. The supplied passages confirm the 1778 publication year and identify Kitchin as hydrographer to the king, but do not confirm a 1 January date, so the exact day remains unknown.

Episodes

  1. 1778 · London, place of publicationPublication of The Present State of the West-Indies

    Thomas Kitchin's descriptive book on European possessions in the West Indies appeared in 1778, published by R.; London is admitted as place of publication only under the event scope.

Background and detail

Background. Thomas Kitchin (also spelled Kitchen; 1718–1784) was an English engraver and cartographer who became hydrographer to the king. He was also a writer who wrote about the history of the West Indies. The West Indies themselves are an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, comprising the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, and the Lucayan Archipelago.

Publication. Kitchin's book The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe was published in 1778 by R. The supplied passages establish the year but give no month or day, so the legacy 1 January placeholder cannot be confirmed and is treated as unverified.

Authorial Context. Kitchin frequently copied the works of other cartographers, greatly expanding the catalog of his work as a cartographer. This practice formed part of the working habits behind his published output, though the passages do not state that this specific book derived from copied material.

People involved

  • Thomas Kitchin · Author; English engraver and cartographer, hydrographer to the king

Sources

  1. Thomas Kitchin Wikipedia, revision of 2025-10-14
  2. West Indies Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-12

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.