José Luis Gomez, Spanish Map of the Southeastern United States (1742)

Disputes over land claims were frequent occurrences in the period of American settlement. This map illustrates the struggle between the Spanish and British over imperial control of Florida. Credit for the original map has been given to Antonio de Arredondo but José Luis Gomez recreated the map in 1914 to improve its appearance. The original intent of this map was to assert the legitimacy of the Spanish claim to land from the southern and eastern coasts of florida to the Chesapeake Bay and beyond the Mississippi River. The map features the route of Hernando de Soto and the homes of Indigenous Peoples he had run into on the way, which was meant demonstrate to the British that the Spanish rightfully controlled the region.