Vincenzo Coronelli's 1688 America Settentrionale (North America) was the most accurate and comprehensively detailed map of North America in the late 17th century. As the royal geographer to King Louis XIV and, later, the official cartographer of the Republic of Venice, Coronelli enjoyed the most up-to-date information yielded by the European voyages of discovery.

The eastern half of this lavishly annotated two-part map provides a thorough record of the history, politics and topography of Nuova Francia as well as a complete mapping of the Great Lakes. The western map section is a similarly complete description of Nuovo Mexico. However, like all maps of this time, it incorrectly shows California as an island.

About Vincenzo Coronelli

Coronelli's maps and globe gores represent the most complete geographical knowledge of the world in the late 17th century.

Coronelli was a cleric and encyclopedist with a particular interest in geography and cartography. He was author of more than 140 titles and produced several hundred maps. His globe gores were produced to be assembled into spherical form and sold as complete globes; rare examples were kept aside to be published in sheet form.

As Royal Cartographer to King Louis XIV, Coronelli had complete access to the most current documentation sent from the colonies to the French Academy of Sciences. Accordingly, his maps contain many legends that comment on the most important explorations and discoveries.

After serving Louis XIV, Coronelli returned to Venice in 1684 and founded the Accademia Cosmografica degli Argonauti, a geographical society with membership drawn from the aristocracy and church hierarchy. One year later he was appointed Cosmographer to the Republic of Venice.