Abstract
The Louisiana and Florida territories sat at the intersection of empires in the late eighteenth century. Between 1750 and 1820 the area was controlled by the French and Spanish empires, the emerging United States of America, as well as the Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole nations. While political surveys produced images of the moving borders between sovereign powers, cadastral surveys show the constancy of local landowners. Landowners superseded national distinction and were a constant in an area in the midst of great change. As control of the region shifted, landowning families continued their way of life. The continued circulation of Spanish cadastral surveys after the transfer of the region to the United States of America shows how Spanish spatial representations of property ownership shaped the image of the Lower Mississippi Valley.
Highlights
In November of 1789, Charles Trudeau, the Surveyor General of Louisiana, set out to map a vacant plot of land along the Mississippi River just north of the Fort of Baton Rouge.1 Estevan Miró, the Governor of Louisiana, had granted the land to Joseph Maria de la Barba for its occupation, maintenance, and cultivation
As large tracts of land were transferred, sold, or taken during the process of imperial transfer in the Lower Mississippi Valley, the cadasters produced by Spanish colonial officials became important legal claims in local disputes over land ownership
Even after the United States produced new mappings of their territory along the Gulf, it was Spanish maps that circulated as the true images of local property lines
Summary
In November of 1789, Charles Trudeau, the Surveyor General of Louisiana, set out to map a vacant plot of land along the Mississippi River just north of the Fort of Baton Rouge.1 Estevan Miró, the Governor of Louisiana, had granted the land to Joseph Maria de la Barba for its occupation, maintenance, and cultivation. The continued circulation of Spanish cadastral surveys after the transfer of the region to the United States of America shows how Spanish spatial representations of property ownership shaped the image of the Lower Mississippi Valley.
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