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Imagining the West

 
  Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi, [1718-1730]   Guillaume de L'Isle
Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi [Map of Louisiana and the Course of the Mississippi]
Amsterdam: Jean Covens et Corneille Mortier, [1718-1730]
NYPL, Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Map Division, Lawrence H. Slaughter Collection 453 		 
 
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With Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle's 1682 exploration of the Mississippi River, the French claimed for themselves the entire Mississippi watershed. This early 18th-century map, which reflects the east-west drainage pattern of the rivers flowing into the Mississippi, enraged the British with its portrait of French control of North America, but it is not far off the mark in the importance it gives to the Mississippi watershed: the rivers were highways that enhanced travel and exploration across the continent.

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