Delisle’s influential map of Louisiana.

An influential map of the parts of North America claimed by the French, from the Great Lakes to Florida and Lousiana. First published in 1718, it was the first printed map to refer to Texas, as 'Mission de los Tiejas, etablie in 1716' and contained the most accurate delineation of the Mississippi up to that time. The map was designed for the political purpose of invalidating the English claims west of the Appalachian Mountains and laid claim to Carolina by the French, which provoked an angry English response. However, it is most important for the depiction the Mississippi Valley. A note along the Gulf Coast of Indiens errans and Antropophages , or wandering man-eating Indians, refers to the troubles faced by explorers and colonists by unfriendly natives. Tonthe lower right there is an inset of the Mississippi Delta and Mobile Bay. This is the Buache edition, which is a reissue of the second state of the original plate, showing the settlement of New Orleans, founded in 1718 Such was the imprtance of the map that it was still being published in 1782.