HUMBOLT, Alexander von (1769-1859).
Carte Generale Du Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne....
Engraved map on 4 sheets joined as two.
Paris: F. Schell, 1811.
22" x 32 3/4" sheet, each; 29" x 39" framed.

A fine copy of the first edition of the most famous map of New Spain, which includes all of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and parts of Wyoming, Kansas, Utah and California. Schwartz and Ehrenberg state that "Humboldt's map remained the standard map of the Great Basin region until Fremont's expeditions thirty-five years later," while Wheat described it as a "truly magnificent cartographic achievement."

Spanish law prohibited anyone from entering any of its vast North American territories without the prior consent of the government. Such consent was rarely granted, but the Prussian scientist Alexander von Humboldt obtained permission to visit New Spain, directly from King Charles IV in Madrid. His passport was almost without restriction, the first such access provided to a foreign visitor. Scientific exploration was his express purpose, and it was the rationale behind the unusually broad passport The fact that he was a mineralogist and had worked in the mining industry certainly helped, as Charles was hopeful that Humboldt’s investigations might lead to improvements in colonial mining practices. It also must have helped that Humboldt was covering all the expenses of his expedition himself! His only obligation in return for the permission was to send all of the specimens he might collect to scientific institutions in Madrid.

Humboldt and his botanist companion Aime Bonpland traveled extensively through modern day Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador and Peru between 1799 and 1803, ending in Mexico City. There, Humboldt spent almost a year consolidating his collections and began drafting his “Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain.” One of the great achievements of this work was the map that accompanied the book: the Carte Generale du Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne. Often described as the first “modern” map of Mexico and the American Southwest, the map was based on the work of other cartographers, as well as astronomical and physical observations made by Humboldt himself. One of his sources was La Fon’s map of Louisiana. He also used information provided by indigenous inhabitants of the region, both actual and mythological!

Humboldt could not avoid the dispute about the boundaries of the United States following its purchase of Louisiana. He identifies the Sabine River as “the eastern border of Texas” but duly notes that it is “not recognized by the Congress in Washington.” When the map was published in 1811, the resolution of that problem was still eight years away. Within Mexico itself Humboldt’s map shows the western border of the Province of Texas as running northwest from the mouth of the Nueces River to a point where it intersects the border of the Province of Coahuila. The area between the Nueces and the Rio Grande is shown as part of the Province of Nueva Santander.

Humboldt’s map broke new ground in the physical mapping of what is now California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas. After leaving Mexico he visited the United States, where he gave a copy of his map to the President, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson in turn gave copies to his teams of explorers, including Zebulon Pike. Humboldt later complained that Pike had plagiarized his map in preparing his own account of his explorations. Humboldt believed in the free exchange of scientific information but did insist on its sources being properly credited!

LITERATURE: Cohen, 'Mapping the West', pp. 100—101; Rumsey 328; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, p. 127, pl. 139; Streeter, Texas 1042; Wheat, 'Transmississippi' 272.