No. 4 Map of North America

Mitchell’s map of North America published while Texas was an independent republic.

This interesting and detailed map of North America shows a fascinating political configuration shortly before the admission of Texas as a state of the Union. Though the date indicates it was published in 1839, this was likely issued a few years later, indicated by the ‘stove pipe’ configuration of its borders.

Elsewhere on the map, the boundaries of Upper California and the Oregon Territory are loosely defined, but remain contested between the British, Spanish, and Americans. Alaska is in possession of the Russians, who would not sell the territory to the U.S. until 1867. Interesting details like Native American villages, historical claims, frontier fortifications, and geographic features are individually labeled throughout the image.

The map was created by Samuel Augustus Mitchell in 1839, but published in a somewhat later edition of his School and Family Geography, likely around 1844.