(1646–25 October 1720)
He was a French cartographer and geographer. He also was an engraver and publisher. His works focused more on quantity than quality, there were often geographical errors, and they were more artistic than accurate.
De Fer was so successful that, in 1690, he became the official geographer to Louis, Dauphin of France. With support from the Spanish and French royal families, de Fer also became official geographer for Philip V, king of Spain and Louis XIV, king of France.
His business flourished, producing town plans, atlases, wall maps, and more than 600 sheet maps. He made maps of places in Europe and North America, including New Spain, places fortified by Vauban, the Low Countries, and the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1698, de Fer published a map of North America, which included a depiction of beavers building dams near Niagara Falls. De Fer became the official geographer for the Pope in 1720.
Part of his America map with the beaver scene was plagiarized by Hermann Moll 17 years later. This map is known as the Beaver Map.