Paris: Broise & Tiheffry, 1863. One of the great masterpieces of the cartography of 19th century Latin America, being the first complete official national map of Nicaragua, made by Maximilian von Sonnenstern, the enterprising German immigrant who was the father of the modern mapping of Central America; predicated upon groundbreaking route surveys, the map project was motivated by President Tomás Martínezs grand ambitions to build roads, railways and even an interoceanic canal crossing the county, as well as fact that Nicaragua recently gained sovereignty over the vast Mosquito Coast region which is here properly mapped for the first time; published in Paris, as many of the interoceanic canal schemes backers were French rare a marquis example with brilliant original colour, an unusual attribute for this map. The present work is the first printing of the much anticipated first official complete national map of Nicaragua. Unlike Sonnensterns other major maps, which were published in New York, this work was issued in Paris by the boutique publisher Broise et Tiheffry, almost certainly due to the ongoing Franco-Nicaraguan connections regarding Bellys designs for an interoceanic canal. While perhaps a subject for future research, it is quite likely that the map was, at least in part, sponsored by French canal interests. The attractively rendered map embraces all Nicaragua, including the Mosquito Coast, and it is predicated upon recent route surveys, which in the interior and northeast of the country tended to follow the major rivers. The depiction of the western and southern areas of the country is excellent, continuing the progress made by Sonnensterns 1858 map, while the central and northeastern parts of Nicaragua are revealed in their broadly accurate form for the first time. Highlands are expressed by hachures of an elegant form, while the rivers and lakes are carefully delineated. The map features a wealth of information as described in the Explicación, upper left, which identifies the symbols used throughout in four languages (Spanish, English, German and French) to locate cities, towns, villages, hamlets, haciendas (rural estates), indigenous ranches, ruins, mines, national and departmental boundaries, the camino real, secondary roads, projected rail lines, bridges, canals, as well as various topographical terms. Notably, the map charts one of the many proposed routes for a canal running from Lake Nicaragua to the Pacific, labeled as Canal projectado, cutting across the isthmus to enter the sea at Brito. The map also shows the route of a proposed railway that was to run from León Viejo, on Lake Managua, to the Corinto area, on the Pacific (this line would never be built). Importantly, the map features 13 topographic cross-sections, critical for discussing roads, railways and interoceanic canals, all projects that were of great interest to Sonnenstern and President Martínez. Additionally, there are three cartographic insets, with the one near the top detailing the Corinto area, on the Pacific coast (regarding the projected railway), while those in the lower right depict the ports of San Juan del Sur (on the Pacific) and San Juan del Norte (on the Atlantic), both of which were critical to the matter of the proposed interoceanic canal. PLEASE SEE OUR WEB PAGE FOR A LONGER DESCRIPTION
