This beautiful map, published in 1747 by Alexandre de Batz includes the future states of Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. This map is special because it was a manuscript map, done with pen and ink and watercolor. Manuscript maps are unique because they were hand drawn and almost always were one of a kind. After Spanish explorers arrived in the early 1500’s, the area became a Spanish sea for nearly two hundred years. French explorers came to the gulf in 1700, and founded the city of New Orleans in 1718. Rivalries between Spain, France and England dominated the coast for nearly a century, until the United States bought most of the region from France in 1803 with the famous Louisiana Purchase. This map shows the region before the Louisiana purchase.