L'Amérique septentrionale, ou, la partie septentrionale des Indes Occidentales

A fine scarce example of the first state of J.B. Nolin's map of North America.

Jean Baptiste Nolin based this map of North America on the 20 sheet map by Vincenzo Maria Coronelli published in 1688. However, the place names added in the Hudson Bay region clearly differentiate it from Coronelli's map. This is the first state of this map, it is distinguished from its later states published around 1690. The second states changes the imprint of the the publisher's address, adds a legend to the left of Quebec, changes Bristol to Boston, inserts Kenebeck town and river in Maine... And the third state gives credit to Jean Nicolas de Tralage, Sieur Tillemon for some corrections and augmentations. A fourth state was published later in 1704.

This map adopts one of the most conspicuous geographic fallacies of the century: California is shown as a huge island, instead of its true peninsular form. The representations of different regions are based on information from several explorations. The Great Lakes are based on information provided by Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, the mouth of the Mississippi is misrepresented according to the discoveries of René-Robert Cavelier, and the names of several places in the west are taken from the manuscript of Diego Dionisio de Peñalosa Briceño y Berdugo. Moreover, the Rio Grande is divided into Rio Norte and Rio Bravo.

Reference : Burden, II, 657