Mexico, Texas und Californien
H. Kipert
Weimar, 1855
Geographer Heinrich Kiepert, known for creating the first detailed ethnic maps of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Balkan Peninsula, produced this map showing Texas and California in context with the recently reconfigured American Southwest and Mexico.[1] First published in 1847 during Kiepert’s tenure as the head of the Geographisches Institut in Weimar, this 1855 edition is one of several German-language maps that promoters used to encourage immigration to the region during the mid-nineteenth century.
Texas was a prominent landing point for German immigrants. Another destination, Deseret (Utah), appears among other territories in the American West. A provisional state proposed by Mormon settlers in 1849, Deseret experienced increased immigration from Germany after Mormon missionaries began preaching there in 1853.[2] At the bottom, a profile chart illustrates the relative elevations of several regions in Mexico. An inset at the lower-left corner details the area surrounding Mexico City. The map focuses additional attention on California’s goldfields (left) and the Central American republics (upper-right).
Of particular importance to those traveling to Texas with the Adelsverein, Kiepert included towns, ports, and counties. He also located roads and waterways, noted the locations of Indigenous groups, and described the state’s topography and other natural features. In Central Texas, he charted the Deutsches Colonial Gebiet (German colonial area) known formally as the Fisher-Miller Colony, which covered over three million acres bounded by the Llano and Colorado rivers. The Adelsverein purchased colonization rights to the grant on December 30, 1845; however, their long-term efforts to settle the region were largely unsuccessful. Many settlers sold their land grants in favor of relocating to more established communities outside the colony, such as New Braunfels or Fredericksburg.[3]
The map reflects the Comanche’s commanding presence throughout West and Central Texas, surrounding much of the German colony. Recognizing the need for diplomacy, colonial commissioner John O. Meusebach and six leaders of the Penateka band of Comanche ratified a treaty at Fredericksburg on May 9, 1847. The agreement, built upon an existing framework of economic and social cooperation, ensured the settlers’ safety from Comanche attacks. It also allowed the Germans to survey the area between the Llano and San Saba rivers as required by the terms of their contract, and to move freely within the Fisher-Miller grant. In return, the Comanche were welcomed into German settlements and provided $3,000 in gifts and provisions. While initially successful, the peace did not last. Amid outbreaks of disease, changes in leadership, and later German expansion within the Fisher-Miller grant, relations broke down, and hostilities increased from the mid-1850s through the 1870s.[3]
Note: original post updated July 7, 2021.
[1] “The Maps of Heinrich Kiepert,” The University of Chicago Library, accessed July 6, 2021, https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/collections/maps/kiepert/.
[2] Allan Kent Powell, “The German-Speaking Immigrant Experience in Utah,” Utah Historical Quarterly, Fall 1984, Volume 52, Number 4, Utah State Historical Society, 312; https://digitallibrary.utah.gov/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=35373, accessed July 7, 2021.
[3] Rudolph L. Biesele, “Fisher-Miller Land Grant,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed July 6, 2021, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/fisher-miller-land-grant. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[4] Brian J. Boeck, “‘They Contributed Very Much to the Success of Our Colony’: A New Source on Early Relations between Germans and Indians at Fredericksburg, Texas.” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly 105, no. 1 (2001): 84. Accessed October 27, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30240308; Karl A. Hoerig, “The Relationship between German Immigrants and the Native Peoples in Western Texas.” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly 97, no. 3 (1994): 424, 431, 438–46. Accessed October 27, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30241426.
