Nouveau Mexique et Californie

An early miniature map of the Pacific coast of North America from Mendocino to central Mexico, showing California as an island. Embellished with a decorative cartouche and a naval battle scene. Published in the 1683 edition of Mallet's miniature atlas.

The theory that California was an island first appeared on European maps in the 1620s, particularly on English and Dutch maps. The hope was that the Colorado River might be an inland waterway connecting all the way from the Pacific to Hudson Bay. This would allow English, French, and Dutch explorers access to the Pacific Ocean and the rich trade with China, Japan, and India without needing to use the Spanish-controlled Straits of Magellan.

The theory was finally refuted in 1700 when the Jesuit friar Eusebio Kino led an expedition to the region and walked from the Baja Peninsula into Mexico. It remains one of the great cartographic errors and is a very collectible subject.

[USA9902]