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Description

A Foundational American Map

An exceptional Trans-Mississippi West map, showing the first portion of Zebulon Pike's exploration of the American Southwest.

The map shows Pike's route through the region from the west of the Mississippi, from the Missouri River to the Red River, and extending west to the Pawnee Villages (including Missouri, Eastern Kansas, Eastern Nebraska, Eastern Oklahoma and North Texas), on his way to the Rocky Mountains and through Texas.

The detail between the Missouri River, Kansas River and the Red River is truly extraordinary, and includes many original notes and observations which make it a source map for all maps which came after.

The map was prepared to illustrate the first edition of An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi, and Through the Western Parts of Louisiana, to the Sources of the Arkansaw, Kans, La Platte, and Pierre Jaun, Rivers; ... During the Years 1805, 1806, and 1807. And a Tour Through the Interior Parts of New Spain, When Conducted Through These Provinces, by order of The Captain-General, in the year 1807. By Major Z.M. Pike.

Pike's maps were the first to describe the terrain of the Southwest based on first-hand accounts and are considered "milestones in the mapping of the American West" (Wheat). Setting out from St. Louis in 1806, Pike and his party proceeded overland to Arkansas, Kansas, and Colorado (failing to reach the summit of the Peak that now carries his name), before falling into the hands of the Spanish authorities and being escorted to Santa Fe, and then to Louisiana. He provides the first account in English of Texas as a whole and his very detailed information on the local Spanish government proved influential for federal territorial ambition.  Pike's narrative stands with those of Lewis and Clark as a cornerstone of Western Americana.

A fundamental map for Western American collections.