With Detailed Maps of the West:
California Gold Regions, Texas and the Southwest, Florida
This compact 19th century German atlas contains an impressive collection of detailed maps by the prolific map publisher Joseph Meyer. It includes several maps of interest to the Americanist, especially one showing California during the Gold Rush, and another presenting the continuing evolution of boundaries in Texas and the Southwest in general.
Other maps of note:
N. & S. Carolina, Georgia & Florida. 1850. Florida is outlined in blue. Inset maps of St. Augustine, Newbern, Charleston, and "Gold-Region von Nord Carolina."
Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana & Alabama. 1850. Inset map of Lake Pontchartrain.
Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky & Tennessee. 1850. Inset maps of Cincinnati and environs, Nashville, and Lexington region.
The map of California and Texas is notable for being published shortly before the Gadsden Purchase, which changed the prevailing boundaries between Mexico and the United States. In fact, the "Boundary of 1848" between the Upper and Lower California is clearly marked on Meyer's 1852 map present here. This map shows the entire Southwest (including the region that comprises present-day Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada), as well as northern Mexico and the Baja California peninsula.
During the middle part of the 19th Century, there was a tremendous interest in America as a land of opportunity for Europeans seeking a fresh start. Among the most active of these immigrants were the Germans who settled in Texas. The map of California and Texas 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. Similarly, a 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. Several Gold Rush towns are named, and there are marks indicating location of "Gold M[ines]." Although Wheat notes two other Meyer maps that depict Gold Rush-era California, he overlooked the present interesting map.
List of the maps:
- Himmelskarte
- Orbis Veteribus notus
- Imperium Romanum
- Graecia antiqua
- Hispania
- Italia media et superior
- Italia inferior
- Asia minor
- Palaestina
- Germania et Galliae pars
- Welkarte nach Merkator
- Halbkugel der Erde
- Europa
- Asien
- Africa
- America
- Australien
- Spanien und Portugal
- Frankreich
- Italien
- Schweiz
- Deutschland
- Holland und Belgien
- Grossbritannien
- England
- Schottland
- Ireland
- Danemark
- Schweden und Norwegen
- Sud-Schweden
- Sud-Norwegen
- Europisches Russland
- Asiatisches Russland
- Polen
- Gouv. St. Petersburg
- Turkey
- Rumelien
- Serbien und Bosnien
- Griechenland
- Oesterreichischer Kaiserstaat
- Ungarn
- Bohmen
- Oesterreich unter der Enns
- Oesterreich ob der Enns
- Karnthen
- Tyrol
- Lombardey und Vendig
- Oberistalienische Staaten
- Sardinien
- Neapel
- Sicilien
- Preussen (General-Karte)
- Provinz Brandenburg
- Ost-Preussen
- West-Preussen
- Posen
- Pommern
- Schlesien
- Sachsen
- Westphalen
- Cleve-Berg
- Nieder-Rhein
- Schleswig
- Holstein und Hamburg
- Meklenburg
- Konigr. Sachsen u. Thuringen
- Kurhessen
- Hannover
- Oldenburg
- Braunschweig
- Waldeck und Lippe
- Anhlat
- Sachsen-Weimar
- Sachsen-Meiningen
- Schwarzburg und Reuss
- Nassau und Franfurt
- Bayern, Wurtemberg u. Baden
- Rheinbayern (Pfalz)
- Donaukreis (Wurtemberg)
- Holland
- Belgien und Luxemburg
- Portugal
- Lander des Adriameers
- China
- Ostindien
- Asiat. Archipel u. Neuholland
- Lander des Schwarzen Meers
- Brit. u. Russ. Nord-Amerika
- Vereinigte Staaten von Nord-America und Mexico
- Maine, Newhampshire, Massachusetts &c.
- New-York, Pennsylvanien &c.
- Nord- und Sud-Carolina &c.
- Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky & Tennessee
- Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana & Alabama
- Californien, Texas, New Mexico & Utah
- Westindien
- Mittel-America
- Columbia, Neu-Granada, Venezuela, Ecuador. 1849.
- Brasilien, Guayana &c.
- La Plata, Chili, Bolivia. 1850. Inset of Patagonia.
- Sudspitze von America
- Nordafrica (Algier, Marocco & Tunis)
- Mittelafrica (Senegambien)
- Aegypten
- Umgebung von London
- Umgebung von Paris
- Erdkarte
- Hohenkarte der Erde
- Stromlangen-Karte der Erde
- Windkarte der Erde
- Regenkarte der Erde
- Warmekarte (Isothermen-Curven) der nordl. Halbkugel
- Warmekarte von Europa
- Vulkangurtel des Atl. Oceans
- Magnetische Meridiane (missing from atlas)
- Werthe der magnetischen Declinationen
- Generalekarte (Umrisse) der Pflanzengeographie
- Verbreitung der Culturgewachse (missing from atlas)
- Verbreitung der Baume und Straucher
- Stromgebiete in Asien und Europa
- Karte vom Deutschen Meere
- Karte vom Grossen Ocean
- Karte vom Indischen Meere
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.