Image: Austin & Tanner Map of Texas with Parts of the Adjoining States 1836 UTA

Description: A requirement of the Anglo-American empresario Stephen F. Austin's contract with the Mexican government included compiling a map of his Texas colony, which he completed in 1829 with the aid of information from a recent Mexican-government sponsored Boundary Commission led by Mexican General Manuel Mier y Terán. That year Austin also sent Philadelphia mapmaker/publisher Henry S. Tanner a copy of his map, and from this Tanner produced and published this important and influential map of Texas as a folding pocket map that first appeared the next year. At that time, it was the first map to show a significant portion of the trans-Mississippi West on such a large scale and in such detail. It improved upon earlier maps by its depiction of Texas' rivers, Indian villages, the distinct woodland area of north central Texas known as the Cross Timbers, and prairies where a traveler or colonist was likely to encounter "immense herds of buffalo," "immense droves of wild horses," and the nomadic Comanche Indians. In all, Tanner published seven editions of the map. The first six editions of the Austin-Tanner map, published from 1830 until 1839, had a title cartouche with the national symbol of Mexico (eagle with serpent perched upon a cactus) and bore the title "Map of Texas with Parts of the Adjoining States." This edition dates from the year 1836 when Texas won its independence from Mexico. After the 1840 edition, Tanner changed the title to "Genl. Austin's Map of Texas with Parts of the Adjoining States." All editions have a lengthy note crediting the geographic reference points of latitude and longitude established in 1827-1829 by Mier y Terán's Boundary Commission for the towns of Saltillo, Monterrey, Laredo, [San Antonio de] Bexar, Nacogdoches, and "the point where the [United States-Mexico] boundary line leaves the Sabine [River]." The later editions include the boundaries not only of lands granted to empresarios but also add additional subdivisions for new counties and locations for new towns. They also refer to more recent military sites such as "Fort Alamo" at S. Antonio de Bexar and "Battle 21 April 1836" located between Harrisburg and Lynchburg.
Title: Map of Texas with Parts of the Adjoining States
Credit: UTA Libraries Cartographic Connections: map / text
Author: Stephen F. Austin
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No