Important map Florida, the south coast of the United States, the Gulf of Mexico, Central America and Mexico. Featured in the “Atlas Curieux.”

De Fer’s important map, centered on the Gulf, reflects French ambitions in the region. Although Spanish possessions in Mexico are the focus of the map, showing the Audiencias of New Spain from modern northern Mexico to Panama, the map also features a remarkable amount of detail on the south and southwest coast of the United States, from Florida to Texas.

Another map featured in the “Atlas Curieux” which focuses purely on the south coast of the Gulf credits the information provided to Pierre le Moyne d’Iberville, founder of the French colony of Louisiana. Le Moyne’s surveys were made in 1698-9. The same information was used on this map while the shape of Mexico and Central America is based on Pierre Duval’s maps.

One of the most prominent features on the map are the “Mines St. Barbe” or the mines of Santa Barbara. This was a group of Spanish silver mines in the remote region of Chihahua-Durango. On the map, these are just below “Nouveau Mexique” in northern Mexico. By this period, they were one of the great silver producers of the New World for the Spanish Crown and in France, they had reached a mythical status on par with El Dorado. [WIND4341]