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Nice example of Nicolas De Fer's rare map of Florida, the Gulf Coast and the Caribbean.
De Fer's map of the Caribbean is a fine adaptation of Guillaume Delisle's 1701 Carte des environs du Missisipi. The map shows a well-formed Mississippi Delta and Gulf Coast and locates La Salle's fort ('Fort de Francois') on Matagorda Bay, Texas ('Baye de St. Louis et de St. Bernard').
Unlike most maps of the period, including Delisle's famous Carte de la Louisiane (1718), De Fer's displays Florida correctly as a peninsula rather than as an archipelago, as first depicted by Thomas Nairne in 1711.
The working relationship of premier cartographers Delisle and De Fer is not yet fully understood, but both were in the service of the King, had access to official archives, apparently shared and exchanged information, and were also competitors in the business of selling maps.
De Fer's map is a seminal map of the Gulf Coast, based upon information obtained from the War of Spanish Succession and other contemporary sources. The map is considerably rarer than De L'Isle's contemporary map and more focused on the Caribbean and Gulf Coat regions.
De Fer's maps of the region were some of the most influential and important of the era.
![[St. Johns River - Florida] Der Franßosen Schiffahrt an den Fluß Maij](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/67624.jpg)
![[Florida Indians] Floridensium in insulas trajectus, ut genio indulgeant. XXVII. [Florida Indians crossing over to an island to take their pleasure.]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/86469.jpg)