Page 16 - Early Naturalists of the Black Range

The Humboldt Map of 1804
1804: The map is named after Alexander von Humboldt because he was a contributor of information.
“This map is said to represent the dawn of the modern era of the scientific understanding of physical geography. It depicts the convoluted topography that reveals the Southwest to be straddling a backbone of two major mountain ranges and drained by a confusing network of rivers and intermittent streams. Subsequent scientific observation reaffirmed that the area was divided longitudinally into a series of ridges and valleys. This is not to say that Humboldt's map was correct, for it contains a number of significant errors. On Humboldt's map, even rivers that today we know have more transverse courses seem to be constricted horizontally because of the cartographic inability to determine longitude effectively.
Despite certain errors, however, Humboldt's map reminds us of a basic fact of the region's geography, namely, that it is easier to traverse along north-south than east-west lines. This helps to explain the pattern of settlement in the Southwest for much of its history. Even under Spanish rule the area was compartmentalized along north-south axes, such as the Rio Grande in New Mexico and the Santa Cruz and San Pedro River valleys in Arizona. The topography also helps to explain the difficulty that rational people have in drawing lines around the region: there are no such physiographic borders in the landscape.”*
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*Richard Francaviglia, “Elusive Land: Changing Geographic Images of the Southwest”, Essays on The Changing Images of the Southwest, edited by Francaviglia and Narrett, University of Texas at Arlington.
WHAT ELSE WAS HAPPENING IN 1804?
✴ Haiti gained its independence from France, becoming the first Black republic.
✴ New Jersey became the last of the northern states to abolish slavery.
✴ The Louisiana Purchase was finalized.
✴ The Lewis & Clark Expedition began.
✴ Simón Bolívar began the South American Revolt against
Spain.
✴ John Deere, Jim Bridger, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and John
Gould were born.
✴ Priestley (the chemist), Kant (the philosopher), and
Hamilton (the politician) died.
✴ Jefferson was President, Burr was Vice President,
Hamilton was (for a while) Secretary of the Treasury, and Marshall was the Chief Justice.
THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION IN 1804
✴ March 9, the formal transfer of the Louisiana Territory to the United States occurs.
✴ May 14, the expedition - dubbed the Corps of Discovery - departs their winter quarters just north of St. Louis and heads up the Missouri River.
✴ June 26, camp at Kaw Point about 400 miles from the start of the trip, near the confluence with the Kansas River.
✴ This is a military expedition; lashes are handed out for disciplinary breaches.
✴ July 21, at 640 miles from St. Louis, the expedition reaches the confluence with the Platt River in Nebraska.
✴ September 20, roughly 1300 miles from St. Louis, they reach the Big Bend of the Missouri.
✴ November 2, they select the site of Fort Mandan for their winter encampment, near what is now Washburn, North Dakota. Two days later they hire a French fur trader named Toussaint Charbonneau and his wife Sacagawea.
The Alexander von Humboldt map of 1804, shown entirely on the next page and in detail above shows “The Sierra del Mimbres”, the Diego crossing of the Rio Grande, the source of the Rio Gila and the Valley of Florida. It also shows the homeland of the Apaches Mimbreanos. The location of major features was maturing but not exact.
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