1744 Carte de La Louisiane cours du Mississipi et Pais Voisins

This is a fine, uncolored example of Jacques Bellin’s landmark map of colonial America as seen through the lens of French interests. This antique map displays newly acquired information from the exploration of the American interior and massive French claim of La Louisiana by Pierre François-Xavier de Charlevoix in 1720-21. Examining the Map The map centers on the Mississippi River and La Louisiane which extends from the Spanish territory of New Mexico in the west to the Appalachian Mountains in the East that separates La Louisiane from the English Colonies along the eastern seaboard. The map extends north enough to include the Great Lakes of Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario but not Lake Superior. All of present-day Texas is depicted in the south as well as most of Florida save for the southern archipelago, the exact shape of which had perplexed map makers for ages. Some cartographic inaccuracies include the general shape of Michigan and Florida as well as the near connection of the M