Partie Occidentale d'Afrique

Outline color. Labels from previous exhibitions: "This atlas was published to establish the Duc d'Anjou's claim to the Spanish throne. European monarchs frequently used maps to justify territorial claims. As one the royal cartographers de Fer was commissioned in 1701 to produce an atlas commemorating the ascent of a grandson of Louis XIV to the throne of Spain as Philip V. In the world map in this atlas de Fer shows the territory of Spain outlined in red and in doing so gives the Gulf Coast to the Spanish empire when in actual fact Louis XIV was already establishing French colonies in the area.