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M-11930: (Image:  7 3/4 x 10 3/4’’) “NOORDER AMERICA.” Nicolas Sanson  Amsterdam: François Halma,  [1682] - 1705.  State 3 (title in Dutch).   Engraved map later hand-coloring. (McLaughlin, The Mapping of California as an Island, #89; Burden #545). Some discoloration of paper in upper corners (possibly candle wax).

This VERY UNCOMMON map is the Dutch version of Sanson's important map of North America.  California as shown as an island (a misconception which continued well in to the 18^th century). The northern coast of California is indented per Luke Foxe's data.  The Great Lakes, though depicted, are in a much distorted shape with the western shores of Lake Michigan (L. des Puans) and Lake Superior open-ended.  The Apaches  are the dominant tribe of Nouveau Mexique where a large lake north of Santa Fe is the source of a river (R. de Nort), which empties into Mar Vermeio between the continent & the island of California.

Sanson, the leading 17th century French cartographer, was official mapmaker to Louis XIV.  Because of his royal position, Sanson had access to official French records of the explorations in the New World.