Date:

1720

Title:

Mississippi...

Cartographer:

Homanno, Ion Baptista (1664-1724)

Summary:

After Homann published his map showing Florida extending all the way to the Rio Grande River, he was approached by the Mississippi Company, a group in France which was formed to publicize the advantages of colonizing the Louisiana area which France had already planned to claim. Obviously, showing that whole territory as a Spanish possession (Florida) was detrimental to their goals. Consequently, they encouraged Homann to produce and publish a map which labeled the area as "Louisiana". This map does so and limits the western border of Florida to the Mobile River and the northern border to the Route of Hernando de Soto (1540) near the head of the Apalachicola River. The northeastern border is on the River "Jourdain" (near the border of South Carolina and Georgia).

The area labeled "LA LOUISIANE" extends north to Canada and northeast to include Lake Champlain. The French must have used a great deal of influence to accomplish this.

Note:

Image scanned from an original map in a private collection.

Reference: Tooley (2003, 2004).

Coverage Time:

1700s