1821 Weiland Map of the United States (Mexican Province of Texas)

Presaging the Republic of Texas.

This is a rare 1821 C. F. Weiland map of the United States, including the ephemeral Mexican state of Texas. The map is graphically suggestive of either an independent Texas or a Texas as part of the United States, thus presaging the Texan Revolution, the borders claimed by the Republic of Texas, and the Mexican-American War. It illustrates Texas's brief period of semi-provincehood following Mexican Independence but before the 1824 ratification of the Mexican Constitution, which merged Texas with Coahuila. This is thus one of the first maps, if not the first, to present a modern, recognizable Texas. This is also one of the few maps to name the ephemeral Bonapartist colony of Champ d'Asile (Champ d'Asyle; 1818 - 1819), located in South Texas on the Trinity River.

A Closer Look

Coverage embraces the United States in the brief period after Lewis and Clark (1804 - 1806) but before the Mexican-American War (1846 - 1848), thus stretching from Atlantic to Pacific, and from James Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. The border with Mexico is defined by the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 (Transcontinental Treaty), which set the boundaries between the United States and New Spain. The western border of the United States extends north into modern-day British Columbia to what is termed 'Jarols Sund', today's Jarvis Inlet.

There is much of interest throughout, including an unusual illustration of Lake Superior and the naming of the short-lived Bonapartist colony of Champ d'Asile in south Texas. Missouri appears in its first year of statehood. American Indian nations are named throughout

There is additional manuscript text and updates. With the exception of Virginia, the slave-holding states and territories are numbered from 18 (Kentucky) to 29 (Missouri); it is not clear what these numbers might mean. An additional manuscript appears in Michigan, renaming a state and indicating a proposed border well west of the modern line.

Teguayo and Timpanagoes

Beyond the Rocky Mountains, Utah, and the Great Salt Lake are conflated. The term 'Timpanagos' or 'Timpanagoes' is more commonly associated with the freshwater Utah Lake, here mapped as the further north, while 'Teguayo' (here, Tegujo See, identified as the salt-water lake 'Sale'), is generally considered to be the Great Salt Lake. The cartographer ghosts in the western shore of Great Salt Lake and postulates on a speculative river connecting it with the San Felipe River and thus the Pacific - a most desirable if fanciful communication.

Mexican State of Texas

Here, Texas is given several overlapping names: Provinz Texas, San Luis Potosí, Neu Santander, and Provinz Coahuila, reflecting the political ambiguity that defined the region until 1835. Mexico achieved independence from Spain in 1821. At this time, the new nation inherited the loosely governed northern regions of the former Viceroyalty of New Spain. Much of these, including Spanish Tejas, were jointly governed as a semi-autonomous military frontier zone known as the Provincias Internas. After the 1821 independence, these provinces were given a separate administrative structure. In this case, Texas was briefly defined as a separate province, though with so much going on throughout Mexico, no official Texas government was established. In 1824, the New Mexican constitution merged Texas with Coahuila to form the new state of Coahuila y Tejas. It remained as such until the Texas Revolution (1835 - 1836). When the Texas Revolution broke, the revolutionaries defined Texas according to the ephemeral 1821 boundaries - as seen here. Champ d'AsileThe short-lived Bonapartist colony known as the Champ d'Asile (Camp d'Asyle, Camp d'Asile), meaning 'Field of Asylum', was established in 1818 along the Trinity River in Spanish Texas by a group of French exiles following the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821). Organized by former Napoleonic officers Charles Lallemand (1774 - 1839) and his brother Henri (1777 - 1823), the settlement was conceived both as a refuge and as a base for renewed imperial ambitions in the Americas. The colonists - numbering about 200 at their height - constructed a fortified encampment where they raised crops and attempted to establish an agricultural community. Their presence, however, aroused Spanish authorities, who feared the outpost might serve as a staging ground for a French attempt to seize territory.

Under increasing pressure from Spain and facing isolation, supply shortages, and the harsh realities of frontier life, the colony proved unsustainable. By late 1818, after reports of a Spanish military force being formed, the settlers abandoned the site and dispersed. Some relocated to New Orleans, others to Galveston or elsewhere along the Gulf Coast. Although it failed, Champ d'Asile foreshadowed later French interest in Mexico and the American Southwest.

Earlier Scholarship

According to Carl What is his Mapping of the Transmississippi West:

[The map] follows Lewis and Clark's map, but with this difference, that the Fraser [River] is missing while the entire Columbia is present. The result is that the United States is shown from the 42nd parallel extending north to take the entire Columbia watershed and from there to the sea. Despite the omission of the Fraser, the geography in the little-known west seems more up-to-date than the geography in the east. The shapes of the Great Lakes, for example, are unique or archaic. Lake Michigan is too long and narrow, and Weiland's Lake Superior is unlike any delineation in Mapping the Great Lakes Region (1977): the lake looks like a pair of lungs separated by several islands. Issued originally the same year that Missouri was admitted as a state in 1821, this publication of the Weimar Geographischen Instituts was one of the first European maps to recognize the controversial new state over which the Missouri Compromise was fiercely debated.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by Carl F. Weiland and issued by the Geographisches Institut Weimar, Germany. The present example was issued in several editions, this being the first. We note subsequent editions in 1824, 1826, and 1831. There may be others. Scarce on the market in this edition.

Cartographers

Carl Ferdinand Weiland (1782 - 1847) was a German cartographer active with the Weimar Geographisches Institut, where he headed up map and globe production, in early and middle part of the 19th century. Weiland was a trained as a military cartographer who, with his career at the Geographisches Institut, move into the private market. Among his other work, Weiland issued a German edition of Carey and Lea's American Atlas. Their edition, which was fully re-engraved in Germany, is of superior workmanship and stands out as some of the finest 19th century maps of individual U.S. states printed outside of America.Carl Ferdinand Weiland (1782 - 1847) was a German cartographer active with the Weimar Geographisches Institut, where he headed up map and globe production, in early and middle part of the 19th century. Weiland was a trained as a military cartographer who, with his career at the Geographisches Institut, move into the private market. Among his other work, Weiland issued a German edition of Carey and Lea's American Atlas. Their edition, which was fully re-engraved in Germany, is of superior workmanship and stands out as some of the finest 19th century maps of individual U.S. states printed outside of America.   Further Details...

Geographisches Institut, Weimar (fl. 1804 - c. 1903) was a German map and globe publishing house and geographical research institute based in Weimar. The organization primarily focused on republishing and improving upon the works of earlier cartographers, including Kitchin, Jefferys, Carey, and others. In general, its publications are known for their fine engraving, attention to detail, historical accuracy, and overall high quality. The firm was founded in 1804 by Friedrich Justin Bertuch (???? - c. 1845) and, on his death, passed to his son Robert Froreip (???? - 1855), then to Louis Denicks of Luneberg, then in 1859 to Voigt & Günther, in 1883 to F. Arnd, from 1890 - 1893 to Julius Kettler, and in 1903 to Max Wedekind. During the institute's height in the early 19th century, most of its cartographic publication was overseen by Carl Ferdinand Weiland (1782 - 1847). The firm also employed the cartographers Franz Xaver von Zach, Adam Christian Gaspari, Heinrich Kiepert, Karl (or Carl) and Adolf Graef, Julius Kettler, Carl Riemer and Karl Christian Bruhns. Weimar was a logical place for a collective like the Geographisches Institut to arise; it was a cultural mecca in the German-speaking world in the late 18th and 19th centuries because of its liberal atmosphere and associations with figures like Schiller, Herder, and, above all, Goethe, who spent most of his adult life in the city.   Further Details...

Source

Gaspari, Adam Christian, Allgemeiner Hand-Atlas der Ganzen Erde nach den besten astronomischen Bestimmungen, und zu A.C. Gaspari vollstaendigem Handbuche der neuesten Erdbeschreibung bestimmt. Weimar Im Vertage des Geographischen Instituts, (Weimar: Geographisches Institut) 1821.    

Condition

Good. Some discoloration in lower quadrants. Wear no old fold lines. Old manuscript annotation.

References

Wheat, C. I., Mapping of the Transmississippi West, 1540 – 1861, Vol. II, pp. 76 and 225. Rumsey 9535.062.