Spanish Dominions in North America

Map of Central America, Mexico and South and Southwestern United States including the Gulf coast.

There is no specific source for the geography of this map although a small note on the lower margin states that it was taken from "various authorities". First published in 1804, the map shows no indication of the Louisiana Purchase and much of its territory still refers to Spanish possessions in North America as they were just after the settlement of the French Indian War, when the Spanish Crown was given the final part of the French Territories in North America (mainly Louisiana) by the French. This filled an unbroken band of territory from South America, to Central America, Mexico, California, Louisiana and Florida which belonged to the Spanish; hence the title. This state of affairs lasted for only for a few decades until the seismic changes brought about by the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. 

Samuel Lewis was heavily involved in the production of the earliest atlas published in the United States by Mathew Carey in 1795. He compiled and supplied many of the very earliest maps of specific states present in that work. Following this success, he embarked on his own publishing career. His “New and Elegant General Atlas” comprised of 63 maps from all over the world and was first issued in 1804 in Philadelphia. To ensure accuracy for the mapping of lands outside the United States, Lewis obtained the collaboration of Aaron Arrowsmith, who was regarded as one of the if not the foremost cartographer of Great Britain during this period.

This example is the second edition published in 1812 by Morse and Andrews in Boston. [USA10045]