Guillaume Delisle

Guillaume Delisle was a scientific cartographer of the highest order. As the young prodigy of an illustrious mapmaking family, his work as an eight-year old came to the attention of Louis XIV.

His quick assimilation of every geographic discovery reported by reliable sources resulted in many firsts, including his rejection of the concept of California as an island and his drafting of its correct peninsular coastline. Delisle was also the first to correctly show the location of the Mississippi River's outflow into the Gulf of Mexico.