de Soto, Coosa, and the Creek

About This Event

In 1539 the Spanish conquistador de Soto embarked on an entrada into the Southeast US. He encountered an extensive Mississippian civilization that preceded the Indigenous nations of the southeast now recognized as the Creek (Muscogee), Choctaw, Cherokee and Chickasaw. Nearly 120 years later exploration by the British in the Carolinas and the French on the Mississippi river resulted in colonization and broad claims of sovereignty by both European nations in addition to historic Spanish claims.   Three manuscript maps reflected those explorations and shaped cartographic knowledge of the southeast in published maps for almost two hundred years. These “Mother Maps” were the “Soto” map of 1544, the 1701 manuscript “des Environs du Missisipi” by Delisle and the 1721 “Map of part of North America …” by Barnwell. Each map made its unique and indelible contribution. This presentation will evaluate the cartographic content, the historical context and the legacy of these manuscript maps.