Carte du Mexique et de la Nouvelle Espagne

Southern New Spain during the American Revolutionary War.

This striking copperplate engraved map covers a large portion of Spain’s North American territories between the provinces of Costa Rica in the south and Nuevo Mexico in the north. It includes portions of Baja California, Nueva Filipinas (Texas), Louisiana, western Cuba, and Florida. The last is presented as an archipelago whose southern tip is composed of several large islands.

Topography is depicted pictorially and numerous toponyms identify Spanish settlements, indigenous villages, missions, ruins, and prominent geographic features. A handful of annotations reference LaSalle’s expedition of 1685 and other discoveries made during the 1720s. The decorative title cartouche, lower left, highlights the exotic geography, inhabitants, flora, and fauna of the continent. The image, based on an earlier map by the influential French cartographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville, was published in Venice by Paolo Santini in 1779.

At the time, Spain was using the assets of its overseas empire to support the fledgling colonies in their ongoing fight for independence against Great Britain. In June of that year, Spain joined the war officially, hoping to recapture Florida (then held by the British). These efforts culminated in the Siege of Pensacola in 1781. Several other localized engagements took place across the region, including the Battle of San Fernando de Omoa (1779), capture of Mobile (1780) and the Bahamas (1782), and the disastrous (for the British) San Juan Expedition (1780).