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This finely rendered historical map, issued by Justus Perthes in Gotha in 1878 and compiled by Professor Dr. J. Caro for the Spruner-Menke Historischer Handatlas, traces the territorial evolution of Russia, Poland, and Lithuania from the late fifteenth century to the end of the seventeenth. Centered on the expansion of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the disintegration of the Golden Horde, the map charts the political realignment of Eastern Europe from the fall of Novgorod in 1478 through the consolidation of Russian autocracy under Peter the Great by 1689.
The primary map depicts the Muscovite realm and its gradual expansion, with finely delineated borders that capture the absorption of Tatar khanates and formerly independent Slavic polities. Key historical boundaries are color-coded, and major rivers and urban centers are shown. Throughout, the geography serves to underscore the progressive incorporation of lands once held by the Livonian Order, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and various Cossack hosts.
Inset at the upper left is a detailed map of Estonia, Livonia, and Courland from 1480 to 1682, focusing on the balance of power between Teutonic, Polish-Lithuanian, and Russian interests in the Baltic. At upper right appears a large inset devoted to Poland and Lithuania following the Union of Lublin in 1569, with territories delineated according to the degree of integration into the Crown lands and key possessions of foreign magnates such as Duke Magnus of Holstein. Below this is a focused representation of the Muscovite–Lithuanian frontier with borders in 1494, 1522, and 1563 shown.
At lower right, a broad projection of Siberia illustrates Russia’s eastward advance in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, identifying the key Cossack routes and the regions successively brought under nominal Moscow control, including Tobolsk, Tomsk, and Yakutsk. The map presents a vision of Russia as an expanding Eurasian empire long before the full imperial ideology of the Romanovs was formalized. A final inset at lower left contains a plan of Moscow, identifying key ecclesiastical and military landmarks as they stood in the early modern period.
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