This is the western sheet of Mortier's interesting map that is filled with various geographic misconceptions of the late seventeenth century. The map is based on Robert Morden's important map of 1698, New Map of the English Empire in America, even though the cartouche credits le Sieur S. (Nicolas Sanson). The area shown extends from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi, R. Mitchisipi ou Rio Grande, enters the gulf too far west; an error resulting from the intentionally faulty reports of French explorer La Salle. The coastal areas are filled with names including James Tovum on the well-defined Chesapeake Bay. The map has both French and English names including a mention of a Copper Mine near what would become Chicago. The Great Lakes are all present, but with some odd shapes; Lake Michigan is square in shape and Green Bay is very elongated and named Bay de Puans (Bay of evil smells). A prominent mountain range begins in the Michigan peninsula and runs all the way down through Florida. This spurious feature is one of the most mysterious geographic mistakes in the mapping of North America. The notorious errors derived from the reports of John Lederer (Ashley Lake, the Savana, and the Desert Arenosa) are present in Caroline. Boston Harbor is inset at the upper left; the first example of an English colonial city on a map that did not originate in England.

References: Burden #765; Cumming (SE) #129; McCorkle #695.7.

Condition: A

Full original color with a printer's crease and several extraneous creases along the centerfold. There is light toning and damp staining confined to the edges of the sheet.