Excellent map of the region between the Great Lakes and the Gulf Coast, following the course of the Mississippi River.
The map tracks the Mississippi River Valley from the region identified as the Sioux Indians of the East and Sioux Indians of the West, with a number of other Indian tribes named, including the Cheraquis, Chouanons, Chicachas, Osages, Canses, Mascoutens, Panis and Renards.
Of particular note is the location of "Etablissement Francois" (French Settlement), which corresponds with the general location of Fort Chartes, Kaskaskia and Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, an early French settlement on the Mississippi River and the first settlement west of the Mississippi River. Founded around 1735 by "Canadien habitants" and migrants from settlements in the Illinois Country just east of the Mississippi River, Ste. Geneviève is the oldest permanent European settlement in Missouri and one of the oldest colonial settlements west of the Mississippi River. This area was known as New France, Illinois Country, or the Upper Louisiana territory. There is some controversy regarding the original settlement date, as traditional accounts suggested a founding of 1735 or so, but the historian Carl Ekberg has documented a more likely founding about 1750.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin's map of 1755, the first to name Ste. Genevieve in the Illinois Country, showed the Kaskaskia natives on the east side of the river, but no Indian village on the west side within 100 miles of Ste. Genevieve. While it is most likely Fort Chartes that is shown here, the position of the settlement appears to be west of the Mississippi, suggesting a possible location of Ste. Genevieve prior to Bellin.
Includes a fair amount of Texas, including notes on De La Sale and a reference to Cenis and Teijas. Many Indian Villages shown, along with early French Forts.
An excellent pre-French & Indian War map. From the 1749 edition of De Vaugondy's Atlas Portatif Universel et Militaire.
Gilles Robert de Vaugondy (1688-1766) was the head of a leading family of geographers in eighteenth century France. Gilles got his start when he jointly inherited the shop of Pierre-Moullart Sanson, grandson of the famous geographer Nicholas Sanson. The inheritance included the business, its stock of plates, and a roller press. In 1760 Gilles became geographer to King Louis XV. His son, Didier Robert de Vaugondy (ca. 1723-1786), was also a geographer and the two worked together. They were known for their exactitude and depth of research. In 1757, they produced the Atlas Universel, considered an authority for many years.