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Pub Year	Map Maker	Pub Place	Map Title	Map Price (USD)	Picture
1720	Moll, Herman	London	A Map of the West-Indies or the Islands of America in the North Sea; with ye adjacent Countries; explaining what belongs to Spain, England, France, Holland &c. also ye Trade Winds, and ye several Tracts made by ye Galeons and Flota from place to	$3,750	Picture

An engraved map, with original outline color

Size: 24 inches X 40-1/2 inches

Map Type: Atlas

This is an excellent copy, with strong hand-drawn outline colors. This map is archivally framed.

This is Herman Moll's superb circa 1720 map of the West Indies, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and northern Mexico. It is one of the interesting maps of the West Indies to appear in the 18th century because of it's detail and it's descriptions and markings in English. There are five inset maps of Spanish ports displayed, including St. Augustine, Veracruz, Havana, Porto Bella, and Cartagena. In the lower left quadrant there is a detailed indexed view of Mexico City.

Moll identifies the Spanish treasure fleet's path into the Caribbean between Granada and Trinidad using a dotted line. The fleet would turn toward the port of Cartagena before sailing for the next stop in Havana. Using the strong Gulf Stream current, the Spanish would sail to the deep water port of Veracruz to pick up silver from the mines of Nova Hispania in San Luis Potosi. The eastward blowing trade winds would assist the heavily laden fleet during it's return to Havana before sailing on through the narrow passage between Florida and the Bahamas, hoping to avoid the numerous pirates in the area, before turning east toward the open sea and Spain.

Moll notes the Spanish fort of Pensacola where "all their Indians have Deserted and gone to ye French at Mobile". He also identifies the river route through Tabasco and Chiapas, a supply routeto the important Pacific port of Acapulco.

Moll also identifies the Silver Mines of Coahuila, Cacao Plantations in Costa Rica, sources of indigo, cochineal, and "silvester" in the mountains of Guatemala, and a large number of cattle in Texas.

This map was published in Herman's Moll's 1719 folio New and Complete Atlas, but it also may have been independently issued and reissued in later revisions of the Atlas. The map is dedicated by Moll to William Patterson, the founder of the Bank of England.

This map is a fascinating and important cartographic work by one of the most prominent English cartographers of the 18th century. A must for any serious map collection.

References: Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers, Volume 3 Page 268, Moll, Hermann, Scott, Valerie, Map Collector Publications, Tring, Hertz, England, 1999; A List of Maps of America in the Library of Congress, p. 1054, Phillips, P.L, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1901