1795 'E. H.' Map of Poland after the Second Partition

Pro-Polish sentiment following the Second Partition.

This is a scarce c. 1795 map of Eastern Europe, including large portions of today's Belarus and Ukraine, as well as parts of other neighboring countries. It focuses on the lands ceded by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the Russian Empire in the 1793 Second Partition of Poland.

A Closer Look

The map covers from the Baltic (Memel or Klaipeda) at top-left and Ryazan (Raizan) at top-right southwards to the Carpathian Mountains at bottom-left and Cherkasy (Tchirkassi) and Zvenyhorodka (Zwinogrod) at bottom-right. More specifically, it focuses on the area traced and shaded with hand-color, spanning today's Belarus and western Ukraine, that was transferred from the Polish-Lithuanina Commonwealth to the Russian Empire in the Second Partition of Poland. The map generally uses Polish toponyms, which have in some cases been 'Frenchified' (e.g. 'Tchirkassi' versus the Polish 'Czerkasy'). Cities and towns, waterways, and mountains are labeled and illustrated throughout. The map features an elaborate border and a vignette illustration at the bottom right, which incorporates the Polish-Lithuanian coat of arms and an olive branch.

Historical Context

This map follows the 1793 Second Partition of Poland, in which Prussia and Russia divided up the country. The 18th century had seen the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth crumble while newly powerful neighbors, especially the Russian Empire, became major powers. Intense infighting (most obviously but not only in the War of the Polish Succession) left the state weakened, while attempts at reform were doubly opposed by the Commonwealth's traditional nobility and its neighbors, who feared that reforms would revive its fortunes. By the late 18th century, Polish leaders could only try to curry favor with various neighbors by ceding them land and influence. This already difficult task was rendered impossible as Poland's enemies conspired against it.

In the Second Partition of 1793, Russia under Catherine the Great and Prussia under Frederick William II took advantage of the opposition of conservative Polish nobles to the Constitution of 1791, which, inspired by the American and French Revolutions, empowered the Polish bourgeoisie. The nobles were loath to surrender their privileges and feared that they might end up on the wrong side of a guillotine. Thus, they aligned with Russia, allowing it to invade and dismantle the reformist movement. The Second Partition stripped Poland of nearly half its remaining territory and population: Russia absorbed vast eastern lands (as here), while Prussia took key western regions including Gdańsk (Danzig) and Toruń (Thorn). This left the Commonwealth reduced to a fragile rump state, politically dependent on its neighbors and ripe for final dissolution just two years later in the Third Partition of 1795.

Having been produced in France during the height of the French Revolution (1789 - 1799), perhaps soon after the end of the Reign of Terror, the map views Poland's plight sympathetically. This viewpoint is reflected in the use of the word 'conquis' in the title, as well as the vignette illustration and border, which contain martial and Polish patriotic symbolism (the two-headed eagle, in addition to the coat of arms mentioned above).

Publication History and Census

This map was created and published by an unknown cartographer as Plate 42 in a c. 1795 atlas, likely a French-printed atlas of the Russian Empire, from which we have also offered a similar map of the Kiew Governorate (GouvernementKiew-unknown-1790). The monogram E.H. in the corners is elusive, while the map's style is similar to the atlas work of Brion de la Tour, who may have published this unusual atlas. This map is not independently cataloged in any institution, and we are only aware of one cataloged example of the entire atlas, held by the Vitterhetsakademien's Library of the Swedish National Heritage Board (Riksantikvarieämbetet).

Condition

Very good. Some soiling.

References

Riksantikvarieämbetet, Rosenhane, Rh Bat App 7_0023.