Texas fascinated the Europeans as a splendid opportunity for settling on the frontier and beginning to live the American Dream. Germans were particularly intrigued with central Texas, and the opportunity to escape their nearly feudal life under the local noblemen.
In what is a unique feature for an original map from the Republic era, this map shows both versions of the western border of an Independent Texas. Kiepert walks a fine line of circumspect neutrality. The darker border, following the Rio Grande to its source and northwards past the 40th parallel, conforms to the official recognition of a border by many European powers and the United States and is shown in Emory’s map of 1844. The alternative view held by the Mexican government - which had repudiated the treaty Santa Anna signed after his defeat at San Jacinto – was that an independent Texas couldn’t be any larger than the Land Grants issued prior to 1836, which would have made the western border of Texas the Nueces River, and this boundary is shaded in a faint blue.
Within Texas the early counties and the transition from the Empresario Land Grants are shown with exceptional topographic detail, numerous wagon roads and scores of settlements. A prominent table at the bottom of the map lists these early counties as the Districts of the Republic of Texas. This is one of only a handful of maps to record the German Colony in the Hill Country (Deutsche Colonie des Mainzer Verein or German Emigration Company, which purchased land near Round Top, Comal Springs and over 3,500,000 acres on the Colorado River in direct negotiations with Sam Houston).
