A Comprehensive and Authoritative Map of Uruguay, 1903

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Antique map titled 'mapa de la republica oriental del uruguay'. Large and detailed folding map of uruguay. This monumental map … Read more Antique map titled 'mapa de la republica oriental del uruguay'. Large and detailed folding map of uruguay. This monumental map depicts all of uruguay with unprecedented accuracy and detail. Impressively, it serves the multiple roles of being an advanced topographic, economic and political map, as well as being a meticulous sea chart of the rio de la plata and the adjacent waters of the atlantic. The republic's 20 departments are defined in various colors, while a legend, 'referencias' identifies symbols representing the locations of departmental capitals, town, roads, railways, public schools and lighthouses, amongst other details. Every single river and stream is delineated and named and the ridges of hills are delicately expressed. The map features four insets, including a large map of the capital, montevideo, as well as maps of colonia, maldonado and punta del este and the island of flores. The hydrographical information provided is truly profound, and renders the map fit for use in maritime commerce. In 1901, the uruguayan house of representatives commissioned the geographer saturnino cortesi to employ the most progressive geographical sources, both military and civilian, to devise an authoritative national map of the republic. Cortesi clearly had access to a vast archive of topographical surveys, as well as sea charts issued by britain's royal navy. As stated on the map, cortesi's manuscript was reviewed and approved by the national department of engineers and authorized for its publication by decree of the ministry of development of uruguay ('el presente mapa construido por saturnino cortesi y anibal c. Mendez ha sido examinado y aprobado departamento n. De ingenieros y autorizada su publicacion por decreto del ministerio de fomento'). Cortesi was assisted in preparing the map for publication by anibal c. Mendez, and it was chromolithographed by la minerva tipografia y lithografia in montevideo. Issued in 1903, it was by far the grandest map ever printed in uruguay to date. Cortesi's mapa de la republica oriental del uruguay was the authoritative and official national map of uruguay, and appeared at an especially critical time in the republic's history. The second half of the 19th-century had been a time of tremendous instability in the wake of the great civil war, la guerra grande (1839-51). In 1903, the year the map was issued, josé batlle y ordoñez was elected president, ushering in a generation of economic prosperity and relative political stability. The present map would have served as a vital tool in planning uruguay's development during this period of rapid growth and change. Reference: proceedings of the second pan american scientific congress (washington, d.c., 1917), p.656. See less