Mapa de los Estados Unidos de Méjico, Segun lo organizado y definido por las varias actas del Congreso de dicha Republica: y construido por las mejores autoridades, 1847
[Map of the United States of Mexico, as organized and defined by various acts of the Congress of that Republic: and constructed by the best authorities]
In the nearly four hundred years that it took for Texas to take its current shape the space changed from an extensive, unexplored and sparsely settled frontier under the Spanish Crown to its iconic and easily recognizable outline. Mapping Texas: From Frontier to the Lone Star State traces the cartographic history of Texas from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Over fifty rare maps from the collections of the Texas General Land Office and the personal collection of Frank and Carol Holcomb, of Houston, are on display. Additional maps are on loan from The Bryan Museum in Galveston and the Witte Museum in San Antonio. This exhibit runs at the Houston Museum of Natural Science through October 8, 2017.
John Disturnell’s 1847 Mapa de los Estados Unidos de Méjico… was used by the United States as its primary cartographic reference during the 1848 peace treaty to end the Mexican-American War. As part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico abandoned all claims to Texas and acknowledged the lower Rio Grande as its border with the United States.
Disturnell’s map rose to prominence from dubious beginnings.[1] Its earliest basis comes from famed mapmaker Henry S. Tanner’s 1822 work, A Map of North America…, as well as Tanner’s 1826 work, A Map of the United States of Mexico…. The latter map was plagiarized in 1828 by the firm of White, Gallaher, and White, who took Tanner’s map and translated it to Spanish. Disturnell purchased the printing plates from that map to publish his own version in 1847, simply adding his name to it while failing to address errors or newly discovered information since the original map was published. The errors that persisted throughout the map’s iterations, including the location of the town of El Paso, complicated negotiations between the United States and Mexico, and eventually resulted in the Gadsden Purchase of 1854.
The map, translated and published in Spanish, provides a detailed look at the Mexican states and bears a unique cartouche — a symbol of Mexico, an eagle with a snake in its mouth, perched atop a large cactus. Above the eagle’s head is the Phrygian cap, or Liberty Cap, a symbol of freedom and liberty, especially in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions, which includes both the American and Mexican independence movements.[2] The eagle clutches a ribbon proclaiming the Federal Republic of Mexico and each paddle of the cactus bears the name of a Mexican state. The state of Coahuila y Tejas is at the top center of the cactus plant.
Notable features in Texas include the towns of San Antonio de Bejar, Matagorda, Nacogdoches, the missions of San Saba and La Bahia, various forts, including El Paso, and Indian settlements indicated by tipis. The Neches, Colorado, Trinity, Guadalupe, San Marcos, Brazos, Nueces, and Rio del Norte (the Rio Grande) Rivers, and other smaller streams, are all labeled on the map.
The wartime route of General Zachary Taylor’s forces from their base at Corpus Christi into Mexico is highlighted in red. Taylor established Ft. Brown opposite Matamoros and earned victories in the Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, labeled on the map, before advancing into Mexico and taking the city of Monterrey.[3] Insets in the Gulf of Mexico include a plan of the city of Monterrey and the battlegrounds of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.
Conflicting boundary claims between Texas and Mexico are noted. The Nueces River is highlighted as the “Original Boundary of Texas in 1835,” while the Rio Grande is described as the “Boundary as claimed by the United States.” The map shows Texas’s territorial claim extending north into present-day Wyoming and west into present-day New Mexico.
Three charts are included in the lower-left corner which provide information on the distances between important locations in Mexico, statistical data on major Mexican towns and cities, and an inset map detailing the major roads approaching Mexico City from Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico.
This map is part of the Frank and Carol Holcomb Digital Map Collection.
Can’t make it to Houston? You can view the majority of the maps in this exhibit in high definition on the GLO’s website where you can also purchase reproductions and support the Save Texas History Program.
[1] James C. Martin and Robert Sidney Martin, Maps of Texas and the Southwest, 1513–1900, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984, p. 137.
[2] For more on the Liberty cap as a symbol in nineteenth-century revolutions see: Harden, J. David. “Liberty Caps and Liberty Trees.” Past & Present, no. 146 (1995): 66–102.
[3] Handbook of Texas Online, K. Jack Bauer, “Taylor, Zachary,” accessed August 02, 2017, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fta29. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Modified on March 28, 2016. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
