Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Map of Peru

One of the earliest obtainable maps of the newly declared independent state of Peru.

The forced abdication of Spanish King Ferdinand VII by Napoleon undermined the central authority of the Spanish Empire across the globe. Local resistance movements sprang up quickly throughout the various colonial holdings, and several coalesced into larger wars of independence in the first decades of the 19th century. Though initial efforts at armed rebellion were crushed by local royalist forces, armies under the leadership of Jose de San Martin captured Lima in 1821 and declared Peruvian Independence in July of that same year.

This map shows the new country colored by political division, with an expansive and sparsely populated eastern territory under dispute with Brazil. The rugged topography of the region is depicted pictorially and several volcanoes are noted. Surrounding the image are numerous paragraphs detailing the climate, geography, economy, and history of the region. The map was drawn by J. Finlayson and engraved by J. Yeager for inclusion as sheet number 50 in the 1822 (first) edition of Carey & Lea’s Complete Historical, Chronological, and Geographical American Atlas.

This important American publication was issued in six separate editions and three different languages between 1822 and 1827. It was heavily influenced by an earlier European atlas by Emmanuel Las Cases (published under the pseudonym A. Lesage.), which inspired the format of a base map surrounded by blocks of informative text and tables of statistics.

Henry Carey, a political economist and the son of prominent publisher Matthew Carey, and his brother-in-law Isaac Lea incorporated this novel theme into their atlas, which focused entirely on the countries of the Western Hemisphere. It was issued at a time of tremendous political change in both North and South America, and the detailed maps accompanied by extensive text provide a unique, often insightful, perspective on the problems and possibilities of the Americas in the first quarter of the 19th century.

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