Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi…

A landmark of North American cartography – the first (1718) edition of Delisle’s map of French Louisiane and the Mississippi River.

This monumental first edition work represents a watershed moment in the scientific mapping of North America and a bold cartographic declaration of French sovereignty. Published in Paris in 1718 by Royal Geographer Guillaume Delisle, the map is the definitive record of the “Sun King’s” imperial ambitions, effectively utilizing the latest reports from explorers and fur traders to claim the vast interior of the continent for the French Crown. By accurately charting the mouth of the Mississippi and correcting long-standing longitudinal errors, Delisle pushed the British colonies firmly to the east of the Appalachians, transforming the map into a powerful tool of geopolitical boosterism and colonial justification.

The plate is arguably most famous for its series of cartographic firsts, most notably providing the first appearance of the name “Teijas” (Texas) in the printed record. The second edition would be the first to name the newly founded city of New Orleans, but the information had not yet reached Delisle by the time of issue. An inset of the Mississippi Delta, lower right, highlights the geopolitical importance of the area to France’s position in the Gulf of Mexico.

The image also presents, for the first time to a European audience, a reasonably accurate course of the Mississippi River and its many tributaries, correcting decades of speculative errors by earlier cartographers like Hennepin and Coronelli. This became the blueprint for the mapping of the “Father of Waters” for much of the 18th century; indeed, Delisle’s work was so foundational that it was among the primary sources consulted by the planners of the Lewis & Clark Expedition nearly a century later.

Beyond its political implications, the map offers a sophisticated ethnographic landscape. The territory is densely populated with the names and precise locations of dozens of indigenous nations, reflecting a complex human geography meticulously recorded by French Jesuits, voyageurs, and explorers like Iberville and Saint-Denis. Delisle treats these tribal territories as established entities rather than mere geographic placeholders, showing the Iroquois, Apaches, Cherokee, etc., were pivotal players in the geopolitics of the era. Stereotypes do present themselves, however, as ‘Man-Eating Indians’ do appear in two areas along the Gulf.