Guillaume De l’Isle’s “Map of Louisiana and the Mississippi River” is one of the most famous maps in American history, what cartographers call, because of its accuracy and eloquence, a “mother map,” a map in this case that spurred great imitation, innovation, and political thought. The map was originally published in 1718, the year this mapmaker was appointed Chief Geographer to the King (Louis
Senex, an astronomer and geologist, became a popular map maker of world maps in miniature, early pocket sized maps, and almanac maps. For this chart, an accurate map for the English speaking world for its time, he borrowed heavily from the De l’Isle map. His work did not extend to duplicating French claims to