1705 De Fer Map of Mexico, Florida, and the Gulf Coast

An uncommon 1705 map by Nicolas De Fer of Mexico, the Gulf Coast, and Florida. Centered on the Gulf of Mexico, this map depicts from Baja California to Florida and Cuba, covering in the process, the Gulf of Mexico, parts of New Mexico as far north as Santa Fe and as far as south in Central America as Panama. De Fer intended this map to illustrate the full extent of Spanish domination in North America as well as French dominance of the coastline between Florida and Texas. French settlements are noted at Fort Biloxi and Fort Maurepas, which is noted but not specifically named. Well within the regions color coded as part of Spain, Fort Saint Louis, La Salle's failed colony, is also noted.

The Mines of St. Barbe or the Santa Barbara silver mines of Chihuahua-Durango

Perhaps this map's most striking feature is its dramatic illustration of 'Les Fameuses Mines de Ste. Barbe'. Although called by some the El Dorado of New Spain, these mines are in fact real and were well known in the 17th century. The Mines of St. Barbe are better known as the Santa Barbara silver mines of Chihuahua-Durango. These mines were first discovered in 1567 by the Spanish Conquistador Rodrigo del Rio de Losa. Although initially difficult to exploit due to extreme remoteness and lack of indigenous labor in the region, by 1600 Santa Barbara had grown to a population of 7000 and was well on its way to becoming a wealthy silver town.

When Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, set out from France, his intention was to found his colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Although it may have been an error that La Salle founded his colony far to the west of the Mississippi at Matagorda Bay, he was certainly aware of the political implication of its perceived proximity to the Santa Barbara Mines. In addition to several eastward expeditions in search of the mouth of the Mississippi, there is strong evidence that La Salle also traveled extensively west of the Mississippi, no doubt in hopes of seizing the Santa Barbara mines. Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan Recollect priest, both a high-ranking member of La Salle's expedition and a potent rival to La Salle, claimed that La Salle intended to seize glory in the form of the Santa Barbara mines before he set out on his first expedition. Such was not an impractical ambition. When La Salle sailed from France to found his colony, France and Spain were at war. Seizing the Santa Barbara would have been a major blow to the Spanish and both a territorial and financial coup for the French. Little did he know that the war with Spain ended just two weeks after he sailed from France and the two nations had become cautious allies.

Curiously, despite Santa Barbara being a prominent and wealthy silver city, and one of the northernmost outposts of New Mexico, back in France La Salle's failure to discover it give the city an El Dorado mystique. John Law, the Scottish economist, millionaire, con-artist, and murderer, wasted no time in capitalizing the Santa Barbara legend to promote his nascent Mississippi Company. He disseminated rumors that the 'mines of St. Barbe' had been discovered and Law distributed gold ingots supposedly from the mine. Speculation on the mines, as well as other scams, pushed the stock price to astronomical highs, creating one of the world's first bubble economies. This was possible because of cartographers like De Fer, who, by illustrating the mines on their maps, made the legend of the Mines de Ste. Barbe part of early 18th century French popular mythology.

An elaborate decorative cartouche situated in the lower left corner features two American Indians and Panama, Acapulco, Mexico City, the Rio Grande, and the Mississippi River are all labeled. This map is rather uncommon as it was published only in the Suite de l'Atlas Curieux, which was a supplement to De Fer's better known Atlas Curieux.