Exquisite map of colonial Louisiana, covering what is now
the Southern United States.

The map centres on the Mississippi River drainage basin,
extending north to Illinois and the lands of the Pawnees, west to New Mexico
and the eastern Apache territories, south to Florida and the Bahamas, and east
to the Carolinas and the Delaware Bay. The map’s decorative cartouche features
bow-wielding Native Americans on the right, a symbolic lion on the left, and
background vignettes of boats, animals, and settlements, reflecting the
region’s perceived wilderness and frontier character.

At the time of publication, Louisiana was a vast French
colony, nearly thirty times the size of the modern state. Its sparse population
included French settlers, African slaves, and Native American tribes such as
the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Natchez, and Houma, with settlements concentrated along
the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast. The colony navigated competition with
British and Spanish neighbours, and New Orleans served as its capital.

This map was published by Jean Covens and Cornelius Mortier,
whose Amsterdam-based firm produced maps heavily influenced by contemporary
French cartography. This map was based on contemporary observations undertaken
by the French Royal Academy of Sciences.