Petermann: Vereinigte Staaten von Nord-Amerika

Title

Petermann: Vereinigte Staaten von Nord-Amerika

Description

Map depicts the eastern coast of the US with Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Nord und Süd Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia. On 2 inset maps the southern part of Florida and Texas. From Stielers Atlas.

dated 1875

Artist

Perthes (1749-1816)

Johann Georg Justus Perthes ( 1749- 1816) was a German bookseller and publisher. Justus Perthes was the son of the Rudolstadt court physician Johann Justus Perthes. After training as a merchant, he obtained employment in the bookshop of Carl Wilhelm Ettinger in Gotha. Together with the latter and his later brother-in-law Friedrich Duerfeldt, he founded a company in 1778 to continue Ettinger's bookshop on his own. In September 1785, he founded Justus Perthes' Verlagsbuchhandlung, which from then on produced and distributed the Gothaische Genealogische Hofkalender, first published in 1763 and published by Ettinger, and its French edition, the Almanach de Gotha. Thanks to Perthes, the reference work soon known throughout Europe as "Der Gotha" was transformed from a calendar of the Enlightenment to an encyclopedia of the nobility with a diplomatic-statistical state handbook. In 1815, Perthes, together with the cartographers Adolf Stieler and Christian Gottlieb Reichard, planned the publication of an atlas, which was to be distinguished by "convenient format, the greatest possible accuracy, clarity and completeness, yet practical selection, uniformity of projection and scale, beautiful paper, good printing, careful illumination, and a reasonable price" and expand the publisher's program. In 1816, the year of Perthes' death, the first edition of Stieler's Hand-Atlas was published, which established the worldwide reputation of Justus Perthes' Geographical (Publishing) Institute Gotha - which only came into being after Perthes' death.

Historical Description

The discovery of America signifies the first sighting of the American continent by seafarers. Before Columbus' arrival in 1492, North America may have had more inhabitants than Europe at that time. In 1497, the Genoese John Cabot (actually: Giovanni Caboto) was the first European to set foot on North American soil since the Vikings. However, no permanent settlements were established for the time being. St. Augustine in Florida, founded by the Spanish in 1565, is considered the first city on the North American mainland and is also the oldest city in the United States. In the European conquest of North America, four states stood out, each of which facilitated the seizure: England was under pressure to emigrate, in part because of religion, and thus was able to represent the largest group numerically. France had special skills in dealing with indigenous peoples, which later led to the only mixed ethnic group, the Métis .Netherlands had the financial resources to establish colonies in North America. Spain had enormous military potential because of its battle experience. In 1604, the King of England, James I, divided his North American colonies as follows: The area from the 1st to the 41st parallel is said to be settled by the Virginia Company of London, the area from the 41st to the 45th degree by the Plymouth Company. 1607 is considered the founding year of the first permanent colony of English settlers on the east coast of America. There was a collision between three cultures: Indians, white settlers and slaves from Africa. In that year, the first settlers from England landed at Jamestown, followed by the (better known) Pilgrims on the Mayflower in what is now the state of Massachusetts. These could find shelter directly in the abandoned Indian settlements. The coastal Indians were now ready to cooperate and had established Plymouth the English gateway to North America.