Guillaume Delisle, Carte De La Louisiane Et Du Cours Du Mississipi, 1718

Mother Map for Texas & the Louisiana / Mississippi Region

First State!

Guillaume Delisle published this extremely important map in 1718. It served as the model for cartography of the Texas and greater Mississippi region for the remainder of the century. It was studied by Homann, Moll, Senex, Seutter, Chatelain, and many other mapmakers—and so its designation as the “mother map” for the region.

… Delisle’s rendering of Texas was a distinct improvement over previously published attempts. It featured an improved depiction of the river system and a much more accurate view of the coast. It also credibly delineated for the first time the land routes of all the important explorers, including de Soto and Moscoso in 1540 and 1542, La Salle in 1687, and de Leon in 1689. Delisle’s sources were also clearly revealed by the many references to St. Denis’s explorations; the currency of his information was evident from the appearance of Natchitoches on the Red River, founded only the year before the map was printed. …  — James C. Martin & Robert Sidney Martin

The vast French territorial claims indicated in Delisle’s map outraged English and Spanish authorities, even though their own mapmakers did not hesitate to plagiarize all other details. The map’s importance for the Carolina region, which here extends into present-day Tennessee and Kentucky, was largely political; it reduces the territory claimed by England and boldly claims that “Caroline” was first discovered, named, settled and possessed by the French. Similar other French “revisions” on the map began a heated debate among the colonial powers in America.

… This French vision would not be accepted by other European nations, especially the British, and a political and cartographic dialogue between Britain and France ensued. The map, because of perceived territorial transgressions against British colonies, caused a political controversy between England and France that would not be settled until the French and Indian war of 1754. … — Andrew M. Balash

Delisle’s map was the first to show the Rio Grande as the boundary between Louisiana and New Spain. Today, we can appreciate these grandiose historic French claims for having provided this important map with its significant details for Texas and the Southwest.

… The most important notation to Texas history, however, was that appearing along the Trinity: “Mission de los Teijas, etablie in 1716.” Referring to the earliest of the Spanish missions in East Texas, this phrase marked the first appearance of a form of the name Texas on a printed map, and thus Delisle has received proper credit for establishing Texas as a geographic place name.  — James C. Martin & Robert Sidney Martin

The notation “Mission de los Teijas etable en 1716” refers to Misión San Antonio de Valero, known today as The Alamo, and so this map establishes not only the name of Texas, but the location of San Antonio for the first time. The designation “mission established in 1716” appears in various forms on maps for the next 50 years, after which it is changed to San Antonio de Béjar or Béxar (the name of a mission established in the area in 1718, and the subsequent Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, a fort built to defend the colony in 1722). In Delisle’s map, two other relatively new settlements appear in the Spanish colony of New Mexico, “S. Maria de Grado” and “S. Phelipe d’Albuquerque,” both founded in 1705.

Another truly original contribution of Delisle’s map resides in its status as the first detailed map of the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi. The well-engraved inset map of the Gulf Coast shows the shoreline between New Orleans and Pensacola, including “Fort Louis,” or present-day Mobile. Delisle’s map showed a great improvement in the representation of the tributaries of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers, as well as the Great Lakes. Moreover, the compilation of locations of Native American settlements is unsurpassed for the period.

Guillaume Delisle’s superiority as a mapmaker arose in part from his utilization of observations made at the Royal Observatory of Paris. The establishment of the Académie Royale des Sciences in 1666 had ushered in a new era of scientific methods, and Guillaume Delisle (1675–1726) was instrumental in France’s ascent to dominance in the science of cartography. He had been tutored by his learned father, Claude, apprenticed to Jean-Dominique Cassini, and was considered to be a prodigy. Louis XIV sought out Guillaume to tutor his son, the future Louis XV. Guillaume Delisle specialized in maps of North America and was given access to original manuscripts of French explorers, and in some cases interviewed the explorers themselves.

The memoirs of “Mr. le Maire” referenced in the present map’s title are those of François Le Maire, a missionary stationed at Mobile from 1706 to 1712. “Much of Le Maire’s writing was directed to another learned individual, Father Jean Bobé … one of the chaplains of the palace of Versailles. … It was through Bobé that Le Maire’s memoirs … made their way into the hands of the illustrious Delisle clan. … [who] soon established a collaboration with him. (Jackson) As Balash points out, Delisle’s mapping of explorers’ routes, references to French missions along the Mississippi and Great Lakes, and the location of “old forts” effectively bolstered the greater territorial claims of France. The historical importance of Delisle’s cartographic work for France was evidenced at the time by his receiving the title of Premier Géographe du Roi (royal geographer), and a state pension just two months after his first issue of the present map.

The significance of this map cannot be overstated. It is an essential cornerstone for any serious collection of Texana and early American history.

Refs: Balash, How Maps tell the Truth by Lying, pp. 20, 39, 40, 46; Cumming, The Southeast in Early Maps, no. 170 (1718 ed.); Jackson, et al. Mapping Texas and the Gulf Coast, pl. 14 (1718 ed.); Martin & Martin, Maps of Texas, pl. 19 (1718 ed.); Phillips, Lowery Collection, nos. 269, 284; Phillips, Maps, p. 367; Rumsey, no. 4764.098; Tooley, The Mapping of America, no. 46 (1745 ed.); Schwartz & Ehrenberg, The Mapping of America, p. 142, pl. 84 (1718); Wheat, no. 99.