1825 Carte Géographique, Statistique et Historique du Mexique
DESCRIPTION
An important early map of independent Mexico, that captures the enormous territorial extent of the young nation only four years after it broke from Spanish rule.
Mexico extends north through present-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, presenting North America before the Texas Revolution and Mexican-American War dramatically redrew its boundaries. The map appeared in Buchon’s Atlas Géographique, Statistique, Historique et Chronologique des Deux Amériques, the celebrated French adaptation of Henry Charles Carey and Isaac Lea’s American Atlas, first published in Philadelphia in 1822. Buchon retained its innovative format of a central map surrounded by extensive geographical, historical and statistical text, while adding and updating material for his French audience.
The map is particularly interesting for its depiction of Texas, California and the still imperfectly understood American Southwest. Within the Province de Texas appear Laredo, Presidio de Nacogdoches and Presidio de Béjar, only a few years after Stephen F. Austin began his colonization efforts. Farther west, Santa Fe and the pueblos of Acoma and Laguna are identified alongside Apache and Moqui territories, while numerous Spanish missions line the California coast. The map also preserves one of the enduring geographic misconceptions of the period: Lake Timpanogos is shown draining westward across the Great Basin by a conjectural river toward Monterey, a remnant of the long search for a western river route to the Pacific.
Surrounding the map is an extraordinary body of French text describing Mexico’s geography, climate, mountains, rivers, ports, population, political divisions and natural resources, accompanied by statistical tables for the individual states and territories. Much of this information drew upon the influential geographical work of Alexander von Humboldt. Engraved by B. de Beaupré and retaining its attractive original hand color, the sheet combines map, gazetteer and statistical portrait in a single presentation. It offers a fascinating view of Mexico at its greatest territorial extent during the first years of independence, before the political upheavals that would transform both Mexico and the American West.
CONDITION
1200 W. 35th Street #425 Chicago, IL 60609 | P: (312) 496 - 3622