Cartographic productions and historiographical representations: Geographical imaginations of the St. Lawrence River

Key Messages Historical geographers and historians have represented the St. Lawrence River either as a trade route for continental exploration or as an artery structuring European settlement. A study of historical maps shows that rather than succeeding each other, these two functions continually co‐existed in the geographical imaginations of cartographers. The paper suggests areas of potential collaboration between geography and history to question the fluvial relationships of a colonial society and understand its spatial representations.