The development of English cartography at the turn of the 17th century is inseparable from the rise of English voyages of trade and settlement and the articulation of the country’s imperial ambitions. Backed by merchant companies and militant Protestant factions, the activity of map-makers in the period offers a fascinating meeting point between scientific charting, ideological propaganda, political agendas and commercial undertakings. Taking as our starting point the New World map of 1600 by Gabriel Tatton and Benjamin Wright, we first study the overlapping of international companies’ propaganda and lobbying activities materialized in maps, before focusing on some of the by-products derived from those maps, notably a set of court masques produced in the years 1613-14, which enlist cartographic alphabet and Virginian exotica to target a mixed audience of court and city investors.