Maps from Inspections of the Northern Frontier of New Spain in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

Two significant manuscript maps from military inspections of northern New Spain in the 1770s from the Virginia Garrett Cartographic History Library at The University of Texas at Arlington are examined to delineate the dynamics of this frontier of the Spanish New World Empire at a critical and controversial period in its history. In line with the most current historiography, the issues of stagnation and decline are investigated and refuted. These cartographic primary sources reflect the rationalization of the empire under the Bourbon Dynasty for New Spain, especially after the opening up of the vast silver mines in Chihuahua—a time of population growth, restructuring, and reform, when the empire reached its greatest geographical extent in North America. Also communicated by them is the mapping activity of the Royal Corps of Engineers, created by royal decree in 1711 to help rebuild the empire after the War of the Spanish Succession (Queen Anne's War).