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Nice example of the Mark Catesby's rare map of the Southeastern part of North America, extending from the Eastern Seaboard to the Mississippi River and north to include the southern part of Virginia.

The map appears in both the English and German versions of Catesby's work. The English version of this map appears in two separate states. On the first state of 1743, the territory on both sides of the Mississippi was colored green, as the entire region was then in the hands of the French. In the second state (1771), the color scheme was altered to show the political realignment brought about by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The territory on the east bank of the Mississippi, which had been acquired by Britain, was colored green; the territory to the West, which had been acquired by Spain, was colored blue.

This is also one of the earliest maps to name the Colony of Georgia.

Catesby's map was based largely on Henry Popple's A Map of the British Empire in America with the French and Spanish Settlements adjacent thereto." The subscribers to Mark Catesby's celebrated Natural History received this map bound into their volumes to illustrate the area with which Catesby dealt in his famous work illustrating plants, animals, birds, fish, and insects of America. This scarce map, embellished with a seaweed and seashell covered cartouche, is considered by many to be one of the most highly prized maps of the colonial South.

Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands was the first natural history of American flora and fauna. First issued between 1731 and 1743, this work would eventually include 220 prints, which for the first time systematically illustrated American birds, animals and plants. Following his studies in South Carolina and a year in the Bahamas, Catesby returned to England. There he spent the next two decades writing, engraving and publishing his Natural History of the Carolinas, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. It was not only the first fully-illustrated natural history of North America, but also a major contribution to both art and science.

To view a short video on this map by map collector Thomas Touchton, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxvCQ5yX4gc