John Arrowsmith was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 geographer

Geography

Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

 (mapmaker) and member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers. He was born at Winston, County Durham

Winston, County Durham

Winston is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the west of Darlington.The nearby bridge over the River Tees also once held claim to being the biggest single stone arch bridge in Europe....

.

In 1810 he joined his uncle Aaron Arrowsmith

Aaron Arrowsmith

Aaron Arrowsmith was an English cartographer, engraver and publisher and founding member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers. He moved to Soho Square, London from Winston, County Durham when about twenty years of age, and was employed by John Cary, the engraver and William Faden. He became...

 in his mapmaking business in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. In 1821, they published a map of North America using a combination of a maps obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 and Aaron's own previous work. After his uncle died in 1823, the business was carried on by his sons Aaron and Samuel Arrowsmith until 1839 when John Arrowsmith took over the business.