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Description

Fascinating German map of the Texas and the Southwestern United States, published shortly before the Gadsden Purchase changed the prevailing boundaries between Mexico and the United States.

During the middle part of the 19th Century, there was a tremendous interest in America as a land of opportunity for many Europeans seeking a fresh start and land. Among the most active immigrant groups were the Germans traveling to Texas. The map offered here provides a detailed treatment of the region and includes a number of curious boundaries. Texas still appears in a modified "small Republic" format, with the upper half being a mis-configured New Mexico Territory, still in the characteristic shape in which it appeared when it was a Mexican Territory. A similarly curiously shaped Utah Territory is shown, with no actual boundary between California and Utah. Most interesting is the appearance of Apacheria, which appears to be treated as a possible territorial name for the region below 35 degrees.

The map includes many Indian Tribal names, forts early roads, villages and settlements in the Southwest. The discovery of gold is prominently depicted in California with a gold wash coloring. A nice example of this interesting map of the Southwest.

Joseph Meyer Biography

Joseph Meyer (1796-1856) was a German publisher who released Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, a German-language encyclopedia in print from 1839 to 1984. Meyer was born in Gotha and educated as a merchant in Frankfurt, an important city in the book trade. He traveled in London in 1816 and was back in German in 1820, where he began to invest in textiles and railways. He opened his publishing operation, Bibliographisches Institut, in 1826. His publications each had a serial number, a new innovation at the time. He was best known for his atlases and the Meyers Universum (1833-1861), which featured steel-engravings of the world. The Universum stretched to 17 volumes in 12 languages and was subscribed to by 80,000 people all over Europe. Thanks to his publishing success, Meyer moved the Institut from Gotha to Hildburghausen in 1828. Meyer died in the latter city in 1856.