Sign In

A strikingly composed map of the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding regions, produced by Matthäus Seutter at the height of Augsburg’s cartographic output. The map offers a sweeping vision of colonial North America and the Caribbean, delineating the contested imperial zones of Spain, France, and England as they stood in the early 1740s. It presents almost all of the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain, Louisiana to the Mississippi’s headwaters, and the arc of the Antilles down to northern South America.

Territorial divisions reflect the political geography just before mid-century: “Florida” encompasses the entire southeastern quadrant of the present-day United States, with the Mississippi River marking a hazy western frontier. French claims are shown extending deeply through the Mississippi Basin and into the interior north of the Great Lakes. Indigenous nations are extensively labeled across the map (Cadodaquio, Apalachicoli, Chieachas) suggesting the contested and polycentric nature of the land beyond the Atlantic seaboard.

Along the right margin, inset maps offer detailed views of strategically vital ports: Havana, Cartagena, Portobello, Darien, and Vera Cruz. These vignettes provide harbor layouts with defensive works, soundings, and references to known military actions. Notably, the inset of Portobello includes a caption describing Admiral Vernon’s attack on the port, dated 21 November 1739, anchoring the map’s production to the opening year of the War of Jenkins’ Ear.

The Caribbean is richly detailed, with Spanish, French, Dutch, and English holdings rendered in full color. Hispaniola is divided between Gallorum (French) and Hispanorum (Spanish), and the lesser Antilles are noted with colonial affiliations and native nomenclature. Mountain ranges are represented pictorially, while rivers, coastal shoals, and settlements are laid out in dense but legible detail.

At lower left, an allegorical maritime scene portrays European ships battling off a tropical shore. Colonial figures examine gold and treasures from a chest, in a visual register that echoes the economic and imperial ambitions embedded in the geography above.

Issued at a time when control over the Caribbean and the American Southeast was increasingly central to European power politics, this map reflects the convergence of military intelligence, colonial ambition, and cartographic imagination.