CALIFORNIA AS AN ISLAND UNITED STATES 1705 DE FER UNUSUAL COPPER ENGRAVED MAP

Description: Striking and highly detailed interesting Nicolas de Fer's copper engraved map of California, bearing the date 1705. This is one of a select few regional maps to feature the island and it is also the first to show Father Eusebio Kino’s highly detailed findings from his expeditions to what is now the American Southwest and northern Mexico.
 
The map shows the entire southwest of North America, with the island of California prominently featured. California appears with an indented northern coast and is labeled "Californias ó Carolinas."
 
Taking up most of what is now Texas, and the Plains States is a massive list of 314 names, which correspond to places in the New Mexico area. The names include Santa Fe, Taos, Pecos, El Paso, and numerous New Mexican pueblos and haciendas; twenty-three place names on the map are entirely new. These toponyms are the result of Kino’s travels and represent the most up-to-date information about the geography and settlements of the area. For example, the Casa Grande descubierta la 27 Nov. 1694 refers to a site found by Kino that is just south of the location of Phoenix, Arizona.
 
On the mainland, to the north, is the toponym Gran Quivira. This is another great cartographic myth of the early modern period. Quivira refers to the Seven Cities of Gold sought by the Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in 1541. In 1539, Coronado wandered over what today is Arizona and New Mexico, eventually heading to what is now Kansas to find the supposedly rich city of Quivira. Although he never found the cities or the gold, the name stuck on maps of southwest North America, wandering from east to west.
 
The title, in the lower left, explains that a Spanish gentleman sent a version of the map to the Academie Royale des Sciences, from which de Fer made this example. This is believed to refer to a 1696 map by Kino now in the Jesuit Library in Rome, according to Burden.
 
This is the first of two states of this map: their only difference being the date of issue. The first state is from 1700 and the second from 1705, which was when the atlas it was intended for, L’Atlas Curieux, was finished. The first state also appeared in de Fer’s “Cartes et Descriptions Generales et Particulieres…d’Espagne (1701)”. 
 
Kino’s explorations in the Southwest
 
De Fer's map is one of the few regional maps to focus exclusively on California during the period it was mapped as an island, and one of the largest depictions of an insular California. Ironically, the map is primarily a product of the information reported back from California by Father Kino (1645-1711), who had arrived in Mexico as a missionary in the late seventeenth century. In addition to setting up missions and converting indigenous peoples to Catholicism, Kino also wanted to verify if California was really an island, as reported in an earlier Spanish account.
 
Some of Kino's earliest reports included updated cartographic descriptions of the southern portion of Baja California, as he awaited his chance to proceed north to the source of the Sea of Cortez. This map and Scherer's maps of California and Baja California were heavily influenced by Kino, who would later shatter the island myth. The map was engraved by Inseln, who also engraved Father Kino's seminal 1705 map which re-attached California to the mainland. 
 
California as an island
 
The popular misconception of California as an island can be found on European maps from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. From its first portrayal on a printed map by Diego Gutiérrez, in 1562, California was shown as part of North America by mapmakers, including Gerardus Mercator and Abraham Ortelius. In the 1620s, however, it began to reappear as an island on some maps. While most of these show the area now comprising the modern state of California and the Baja California peninsula separated from the continent, others, like a manuscript chart by Joao Teixeira Albernaz I (ca. 1632) now in the collection of the National Library of Brasil shows the entire western half of North America as an island.
 
The 17th-century resurgence of the myth of California as an island was most likely the result of the writings Fray Antonio de la Ascensión, a Carmelite friar who accompanied Sebastian Vizcaíno on an important 1602 voyage from Acapulco north up the shore of California.  In the years following the Vizcaíno expedition, Ascensión began to describe the land as an island, being influenced himself by other explorers whose manuscripts he reviewed. Ascension, a trained cosmographer, likely sketched maps to that effect. Normally, this information would have been reviewed and locked in the Spanish repository, the Casa de la Contratación. However, the manuscript maps were intercepted in the Atlantic by the Dutch, who took them to Amsterdam where they began to circulate. Extracts from Ascensión's writings (but not his maps) were incorporated into Juan Torquemada’s Monarquia Indiana (1613) (with the island details curtailed somewhat) and his 1620 Relación breve continued to circulate in manuscript form among Spanish officials.
 
The first known maps to show California as an island were on the title pages of Antonio de Herrera’s Descripción de las Indias Occidentales (1622) and Jacob le Maire's Spieghel Der Australische Navigatie (1622). Two early examples of larger maps are those by Abraham Goos (1624) and another by Henry Briggs, which was included in Samuel Purchas’ Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes (1625). In addition to Briggs and Goos, prominent practitioners like Jan Jansson and Nicolas Sanson adopted the new island and the practice became commonplace. John Speed’s map (1626-7), based on Briggs’ work, is well known for being one of the first to depict an insular California.
 
The island of California became a fixture on mid- and late-seventeenth century maps. The island suggested possible links to the Northwest Passage, with rivers in the North American interior supposedly connecting to the sea between California and the mainland. Furthermore, Francis Drake had landed in northern California on his circumnavigation (1577-80) and an insular California suggested that Spanish power in the area could be questioned.
 
Not everyone was convinced, however. Father Eusebio Kino, after extensive travels in what is now California, Arizona, and northern Mexico concluded that the island was actually a peninsula and published a map refuting the claim (Paris, 1705). Another skeptic was Guillaume De L’Isle. In 1700, De L’Isle discussed “whether California is an Island or a part of the continent” with J. D. Cassini; the letter was published in 1715. After reviewing all the literature available to him in Paris, De L’Isle concluded that the evidence supporting an insular California was not trustworthy. He also cited more recent explorations by the Jesuits (including Kino) that disproved the island theory. Later, in his map of 1722 (Carte d’Amerique dressee pour l’usage du Roy), De L’Isle would abandon the island theory entirely.
 
Despite Kino’s and De L’Isle’s work, California as an island remained common on maps until the mid-eighteenth century. De L’Isle’s son-in-law, Philippe Buache, for example, remained an adherent of the island depiction for some time. Another believer was Herman Moll, who reported that California was unequivocally an island, for he had had sailors in his offices that claimed to have circumnavigated it. In the face of such skepticism, the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII, had to issue a decree in 1747 proclaiming California to be a peninsula connected to North America; the geographic chimera, no matter how appealing, was not to be suffered any longer, although a few final maps were printed with the lingering island.
 
Composition and Medium:
 
The map is printed in full color, a notable feature for maps of this era, enhancing its visual appeal and aiding in distinguishing different geographical and political regions. Relief is illustrated with sketches, shading, and hachures, offering a rudimentary depiction of the terrain.
 
Style:
 
Nicolas de Fer’s map reflects the cartographic style of the early 18th century, characterized by detailed geographical representations alongside artistic embellishments. The decorative elements include an ornate compass rose and a detailed cartouche, which add to its aesthetic value. The use of color is particularly elaborate, showcasing de Fer's commitment to both functionality and artistry.
 
Notable Features:
 
- Geographical Details: The map includes various geographical features such as mountain ranges and rivers, with place names inscribed in French. The inclusion of "Gran Quivira" and "Gran Tegualo" suggests regions rich in myth and legend, often linked to tales of wealth and exploration.
 
- Inscriptions and Labels: There is a comprehensive list of place names in the upper right section, providing a key to the numbered locations on the map. This extensive labeling reflects the importance of these areas during the colonial period.
 
- Cultural and Historical Context: The map embodies the European perspective during the Age of Exploration, emphasizing territorial claims and the fascination with the New World’s potential riches. It serves as a historical document illustrating the evolving understanding of geography during this time.
 
Historical Context:
 
During the early 18th century, maps like this served not only as navigational aids but also as tools of diplomacy and colonial ambition. They were used to assert territorial claims and to educate European audiences about distant lands. Nicolas de Fer was a prominent cartographer whose work was widely respected, and his maps were often commissioned by royalty and other influential figures.
 
Significance:
 
This map is significant for its historical inaccuracies, such as the depiction of California as an island, which provides insight into the limited and often speculative nature of geographical knowledge at the time. Additionally, the map’s detail and artistic quality reflect the high standards of cartography and engraving in early 18th-century France.
 
Source: L'Atlas Curieux ou le Monde Represente ans des Cartes Generales et Particulieres du Ciel et de la Terre: Divise tant en ses Quatre Principales Parties que par Etats et Provinces et Orne ... a Paris chez l'Auteur ... 1705.

Date: 1705 ( dated )

Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 34,4 x 23,3

Condition: Very strong and dark impression on good paper. Paper with chains. Map uncolored. Short margins. Small foxing and browning. Conditions are as you can see in the images. 

Mapmaker: Nicholas de Fer (1646 - October 25, 1720) was a French cartographer and publisher, the son of cartographer Antoine de Fer. He apprenticed with the Paris engraver Louis Spirinx, producing his first map, of the Canal du Midi, at 23. When his father died in June of 1673 he took over the family engraving business and established himself on Quai de L'Horloge, Paris, as an engraver, cartographer, and map publisher. De Fer was a prolific cartographer with over 600 maps and atlases to his credit. De Fer's work, though replete with geographical errors, earned a large following because of its considerable decorative appeal. In the late 17th century, De Fer's fame culminated in his appointment as Geographe de le Dauphin, a position that offered him unprecedented access to the most up to date cartographic information. This was a partner position to another simultaneously held by the more scientific geographer Guillaume De L'Isle, Premier Geograph de Roi. Despite very different cartographic approaches, De L'Isle and De Fer seem to have stepped carefully around one another and were rarely publicly at odds. Upon his death of old age in 1720, Nicolas was succeeded by two of his sons-in-law, who also happened to be brothers, Guillaume Danet (who had married his daughter Marguerite-Geneviève De Fer), and Jacques-François Bénard (Besnard) Danet (husband of Marie-Anne De Fer), and their heirs, who continued to publish under the De Fer imprint until about 1760. It is of note that part of the De Fer legacy also passed to the engraver Remi Rircher, who married De Fer's third daughter, but Richer had little interest in the business and sold his share to the Danet brothers in 1721.