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The Ebeling-Sotzmann Atlas von Nordamerika
- By The Map Collector
- Published 1 March 1981
- Maps
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The Map Collector
The Map Collector, initiated by Peter Scott and Valerie G. Newby, was a journal on historical cartography published every quarter. The first issue appeared in 1997 and continued for nearly 20 years. After 74 issues the last copy appeared in Spring 1996. Mrs. Valerie G. Newby, is presently editor of the IMCoS Journal.
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by Walter W. Ristow
One of the most comprehensive geographic descriptions of the continent of America prepared after independence was compiled by a German scholar, Christoph Daniel Ebeling. Here, Dr. Ristow, who retired as map librarian at the Library of Congress, Washington DC in 1978, gives an insight into the life and works of this unusual man.
The independence of the United States created, in Europe as well as in America, a desire for information about the new republic. In the several decades following ratification of the Constitution, therefore, a number of Europeans travelled extensively in the United States. After returning to their native lands, some published accounts and impressions of the country and its citizens.
One of the most comprehensive, detailed, and sympathetic geographic descriptions of America, however, was compiled and published by a European who never set foot on the American continent. This ambitious and dedicated individual was Christoph Daniel Ebeling, professor of history and classical languages in the Hamburg Gymnasium.
Ebeling was born November 20, 1741, in Garmissen, near the city of Hildesheim, in western Germany. He enrolled in the University of G6ttingen in 1763, expecting to study for the ministry. Theology did not, however, stimulate his intellectual interest, and he found history, literature, and the English language more appealing studies. After graduating from Gottingen, Ebeling tutored in Leipzig for a year or two, then accepted a teaching position in a commercial academy in Hamburg in 1769. The following year he was named director of the academy, an office he held for more than two decades. In 1784, Ebeling was appointed to the Hamburg Gymnasium, where he taught for the remainder of his life.
Ebeling also found time to gather data for the colossal task he had undertaken of summarizing the geography and history of the United States for his German-speaking compatriots.
The dedicated scholar soon developed an interest in the evolution of free states, and this concern, coupled with his knowledge of the English language, directed his attention to America. As early as 1777-78, Ebeling published a book entitled Amerikanische Bibliothek, which included translations from English to German, of selected political, descriptive, and statistical tracts. This suggests that he had, even before the Revolution, started to gather information about the infant republic across the Atlantic.
It was a pleasurable, if demanding, task, which consumed a considerable portion of his time and effort for almost half a century. He also assembled one of the most comprehensive Americana libraries of the time. Ebeling accomplished this by carrying on voluminous correspondence and exchanges with American colleagues, few of whom it was his good fortune ever to meet.
Ebeling avidly read, thoroughly absorbed, and critically analysed the data, and drew freely upon it in compiling his multi volume Erdbeschreibung and Geschichte von Amerika, die vereinten Staaten von Amerika. The first volume of this geographical and historical study of the United States was published in Hamburg, by Carl Ernst Bohn, in 1793. It summarized the geography and history of the states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Over the next quarter century, Ebeling published six additional volumes of the Erdbeschreibung, the last of which appeared in 1816.
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and New York were the subjects of volume two, published in 1794. Volume three, which was issued two years later, added supplementary information on New York State and also covered New Jersey. Pennsylvania was featured in the fourth volume published in 1797 and Delaware and Maryland were dealt with in volume five which came out two years later. Pennsylvania was further described in volume six, published in 1803, because of the large number of Germans who had settled there many of whom had described the state's features for relatives and friends in their native land in letters and pamphlets. There was an interval of thirteen years between volumes six and seven, which described the state of Virginia, in part because of restrictions on shipping and mailing resulting from the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and the War of 1812 and the British blockade in America.
Ebeling planned to compile additional volumes of the Erdbeschreibung dealing with the southern and trans-Appalachian regions. These objectives were never realized, for want of reliable information on those regions, before the hard¬working professor died, June 20, 1817.
The intended scope of the Erdbeschreibung was outlined by Ebeling in a letter, dated June 26, 1794, addressed to President Ezra Stiles, of Yale College. He planned, the geographer wrote, to cover the fifteen states of the union and the western territories with a separate volume on the United States as a whole, three volumes for Spanish America, and possibly three or four more for other European colonies. 'It is,' Ebeling informed Stiles, 'an arduous task that I undertook, but I was incited to persevere by the animating beauty of the subject, the many imperfect and false accounts Europe has of your country, and the possible good effect which a faithful picture of a truly free republic founded upon the most solid foundations, could produce in the most part of Europe, so very remote from such happiness as you enjoy.'
The seven volumes of the Erdbeschreibung included no maps, which greatly limited their utility. Ebeling recognized this deficiency and, in 1795, two years after the first volume was published, he announced plans for compiling an Atlas von Nordamerika.3 As planned, the Atlas was to include eighteen plates, sixteen of them state maps at fairly large scales. To compile and draft the maps, Ebeling engaged a countryman, Daniel Friedrich Sotzmann.
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COPYRIGHT March 1981 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
One of the most comprehensive geographic descriptions of the continent of America prepared after independence was compiled by a German scholar, Christoph Daniel Ebeling. Here, Dr. Ristow, who retired as map librarian at the Library of Congress, Washington DC in 1978, gives an insight into the life and works of this unusual man.
The independence of the United States created, in Europe as well as in America, a desire for information about the new republic. In the several decades following ratification of the Constitution, therefore, a number of Europeans travelled extensively in the United States. After returning to their native lands, some published accounts and impressions of the country and its citizens.
One of the most comprehensive, detailed, and sympathetic geographic descriptions of America, however, was compiled and published by a European who never set foot on the American continent. This ambitious and dedicated individual was Christoph Daniel Ebeling, professor of history and classical languages in the Hamburg Gymnasium.
Ebeling was born November 20, 1741, in Garmissen, near the city of Hildesheim, in western Germany. He enrolled in the University of G6ttingen in 1763, expecting to study for the ministry. Theology did not, however, stimulate his intellectual interest, and he found history, literature, and the English language more appealing studies. After graduating from Gottingen, Ebeling tutored in Leipzig for a year or two, then accepted a teaching position in a commercial academy in Hamburg in 1769. The following year he was named director of the academy, an office he held for more than two decades. In 1784, Ebeling was appointed to the Hamburg Gymnasium, where he taught for the remainder of his life.
Ebeling also found time to gather data for the colossal task he had undertaken of summarizing the geography and history of the United States for his German-speaking compatriots.
The dedicated scholar soon developed an interest in the evolution of free states, and this concern, coupled with his knowledge of the English language, directed his attention to America. As early as 1777-78, Ebeling published a book entitled Amerikanische Bibliothek, which included translations from English to German, of selected political, descriptive, and statistical tracts. This suggests that he had, even before the Revolution, started to gather information about the infant republic across the Atlantic.
It was a pleasurable, if demanding, task, which consumed a considerable portion of his time and effort for almost half a century. He also assembled one of the most comprehensive Americana libraries of the time. Ebeling accomplished this by carrying on voluminous correspondence and exchanges with American colleagues, few of whom it was his good fortune ever to meet.
Ebeling avidly read, thoroughly absorbed, and critically analysed the data, and drew freely upon it in compiling his multi volume Erdbeschreibung and Geschichte von Amerika, die vereinten Staaten von Amerika. The first volume of this geographical and historical study of the United States was published in Hamburg, by Carl Ernst Bohn, in 1793. It summarized the geography and history of the states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Over the next quarter century, Ebeling published six additional volumes of the Erdbeschreibung, the last of which appeared in 1816.
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and New York were the subjects of volume two, published in 1794. Volume three, which was issued two years later, added supplementary information on New York State and also covered New Jersey. Pennsylvania was featured in the fourth volume published in 1797 and Delaware and Maryland were dealt with in volume five which came out two years later. Pennsylvania was further described in volume six, published in 1803, because of the large number of Germans who had settled there many of whom had described the state's features for relatives and friends in their native land in letters and pamphlets. There was an interval of thirteen years between volumes six and seven, which described the state of Virginia, in part because of restrictions on shipping and mailing resulting from the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and the War of 1812 and the British blockade in America.
Ebeling planned to compile additional volumes of the Erdbeschreibung dealing with the southern and trans-Appalachian regions. These objectives were never realized, for want of reliable information on those regions, before the hard¬working professor died, June 20, 1817.
The intended scope of the Erdbeschreibung was outlined by Ebeling in a letter, dated June 26, 1794, addressed to President Ezra Stiles, of Yale College. He planned, the geographer wrote, to cover the fifteen states of the union and the western territories with a separate volume on the United States as a whole, three volumes for Spanish America, and possibly three or four more for other European colonies. 'It is,' Ebeling informed Stiles, 'an arduous task that I undertook, but I was incited to persevere by the animating beauty of the subject, the many imperfect and false accounts Europe has of your country, and the possible good effect which a faithful picture of a truly free republic founded upon the most solid foundations, could produce in the most part of Europe, so very remote from such happiness as you enjoy.'
The seven volumes of the Erdbeschreibung included no maps, which greatly limited their utility. Ebeling recognized this deficiency and, in 1795, two years after the first volume was published, he announced plans for compiling an Atlas von Nordamerika.3 As planned, the Atlas was to include eighteen plates, sixteen of them state maps at fairly large scales. To compile and draft the maps, Ebeling engaged a countryman, Daniel Friedrich Sotzmann.
Read Full Article >>
[Acrobat Reader required]
COPYRIGHT March 1981 The Map Collector, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
