La Louisiana, Parte Settentrionalle

One of the earliest and most influential maps of the Great Lakes region.

This map of the Great Lakes and upper headwaters of the Mississippi River is one of the most accurate depictions of the region published in either the 17th or 18th centuries. The cartographer, Vincenzo Coronelli, heavily leveraged the reports of Jesuit missionaries and explorers like Marquette, La Salle, Hennepin, and Jolliet while incorporating information from an earlier map he published in 1688.

The place-names shown on the map are largely taken directly from Jesuit written reports, as are the locations of portages, native villages, and forts. There are several small illustrations within the map that are also lifted directly from Jesuit sources, including a man-eating alligator and several scenes of American Indian life. The scant topography is depicted pictorially.

Despite its early date of publication, Coronelli’s map is one of the most accurate outlines of the Great Lakes produced during either the 17th or 18th centuries. Later updates by Jacques Nicholas Bellin would add a number of phantom islands in Lake Superior, which would incorrectly appear on maps until near the end of the 18th century. Published in Venice by Vincenzo Coronelli in the last edition of his Atlante Veneto.

“Although Coroelli’s map is less decorative than many of its contemporaries, it is a much more important and informative map than most of its period.” [John Goss]

References: Tooley, R. V. (1988). The Mapping of America. London: Holland Press. Burden, P. D. (1996). The mapping of North America. Rickmansworth, Herts, England: Raleigh Publications. Goss, J., 1990. The mapping of North America. Secaucus, N.J.: Wellfleet Press.