“LE GOLFE DE MEXIQUE…” Amsterdam: Pierre Mortier, c. 1700. Engraved chart with old hand-coloring. From Suite du Neptune François - a collection of charts of foreign waters published by Mortier. (Image: 23 x 33’’) Reference: Burden # 769.
This two-sheet sea chart depicts a region that was of vast importance at a time when New World Treasures were being transported back to Europe. It focuses on the theater of intense competition between all the European powers for the treasure of the New World; which, once acquired, had to be fought for on the high seas to be retained.
The chart includes the entire Atlantic coast region from “Cape Faire” (Cape Fear) south; all the Gulf Coast, West Indies and northern coast of South America. Tremendous detail is provided along the coastline - identifying most major towns, ports, harbors and rivers.
The name La Floridae covers the whole southern region reflecting the Spanish possessions. In 1700 Pierre Mortier published the Suite du Neptune Francois as the second volume of his Neptune Francois of 1693. It covered regions outside of Europe with many drawn from the manuscripts of N.P. d'Ablancourt that were derived from Portuguese archives.
There was only one edition of the Suite de Neptune Francois. However, some of the charts were issued in two separate sheets in Mortier's smaller format Atlas Nouveau. Unlike many of the other maps from the Suite, this map is rarer because it was replaced in 1703 by the Teatre de la Guerre en Amerique, a similar two-sheet map that illustrated the West Indian theater of the War of the Spanish Succession.
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