WEILAND, Carl Ferdinand (1782-1847). [MISSOURI] Geographische-statistisch und historische Charte von Missouri. Weimar: im Verlage des geographischen Instituts, 1826. Copper-engraved map, with original outline colour, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 20 x 25 inches.

A highly important early map of the Great Plains.

This very attractive map is a fascinating historical document depicting the early development of the state of Missouri. The state was admitted into the Union as part of the Missouri Compromise in 1821, having been carved out the territory of the same name that was part of the Louisiana Purchase. Finely coloured in outline are fourteen named counties. Most of the settlement still hugs the Mississippi River, and is centered on the bustling river port of St. Louis, which was founded by French fur traders in 1763. The western counties maintain a large size, suggesting their sparse population and undeveloped nature. The map features the 'Osage Line' that runs vertically south from Fort Osage on the Missouri River, marking the border between lands ceded to the U.S. government by the Osage nation in 1808. Featured in the center of the state on the Missouri River is the newly-founded state capitol, Jefferson City. Notably, the map depicts the state before the 1835 'Platte Purchase', that extended its northern boundary west to the Missouri River. The map is surrounded by statistics and text that describes the physical, political and demographic profile of the state during an especially critical period in its development. This map is advanced from the one that appeared in Carey & Lea's American Atlas, printed in Philadelphia in 1822. .