A Map of the United States of Mexico

Creator

• H. S. Tanner

Preview

Identifier

metapth231413

Description

In the first half of the 1800s, the map firm of Henry S. Tanner in Philadelphia was perhaps the most prestigious in the U.S. In 1822, Tanner issued a map of North America based upon the leading authorities of the day. In 1825, he reissued the southwestern portion of this map on a larger scale and entitled it A Map of the United States of Mexico. His map of Mexico published in the mid-1820s served as the early edition of this map, and this is a third edition. The date of the third edition, 1846, is especially important because the map was published in the year the United States went to war with Mexico. As a result, there was a great deal of American interest in Mexico, the foreign nation on whose soil most of the war and battles were fought. The cartouche states that the map is based on “a great variety of Printed and Manuscript Documents.” Upon examining the map it obvious that the eastern Texas region was based on Austin’s, maps also published by Tanner, while the western boundary probably came from William Emory’s Texas map of 1844. At the time it was produced, Tanner’s map was the most detailed and accurate map of Mexico to be found in the U.S. Some cartographic historians believe that Tanner’s map was plagiarized by other mapmakers, including the firm of White, Gallaher, and White and by John Disturnell. The map includes two tables: one, a table of distances between towns, and the other, a statistical table giving basic information about Mexican states, cities, and the produce grown in and the geography of each one. The map also includes an inset “Map of the Roads &c. From Vera Cruz & Alvarado to Mexico,” foreshadowing the route that U.S. General Winfield Scott would take in 1847 when he led American forces from Vera Cruz to Mexico City. [Gift of Virginia Garrett]

Archival Date

1846

Location

131/4

Collection Name

Cartographic Connections

Collection Number

00587

Publisher

University of Texas at Arlington Libraries

Original Format

Map

File Format

JPG

Rights

Any use of content downloaded or printed from this site is limited to non-commercial personal or educational use, including fair use as directed by U.S. copyright laws. For more information or for reproduction requests, please contact Special Collections

Subjects

Texas; United States; Mexico

Item Type

image