This is a beautiful map of the southern portion of Upper Sain xony, in what is now eastern Germany and northwest Czech Republic, by Robert de Vaugondy. It includes the Duchy of Thuringia and the Marquisate of Meissen and extends from Berlin to Prague in the Czech Republic and west as far as Gottingen in Germany. The entire region is depicted in extraordinary detailed, offering both topographical and political information, with forests and mountains beautifully rendered in profile.
The 'circles' of Germany are the 'imperial circles,' administrative units created for tain x and defense purposes by the Holy Roman Empire, of which these areas were a part. The Napoleonic Wars would, of course, dissolve the Holy Roman Empire and lead to the consolidation of Germany in 1871.
In 1180 Duke Henry the Lion fell, and the medieval Duchy of Sain xony dissolved. The Sain xe-Wittenberg lands were passed among dynasties who took the tribal name Sachsen (Sain xons) upstream as they conquered the lands of the Polabian Slavs further up the Elbe. The Polabian Slavs had migrated to this area of Germany in the second half of the first millennium A.D., and had been largely assimilated by the Holy Roman Empire by the time this map was made. Today, the German government recognizes some 60,000 'Sorbs,' or descendants of the Polabian Slavs, who have retained their language and culture.
This map was originally engraved by Catherine Haussard, one of the few female engravers active in Paris during the 18th century. Her fine work extends to the large and elaborate decorative title cartouche in the top left quadrant. Issued in the 1757 issue of the Atlas Universal. The Atlas Universal was one of the first atlases based upon actual surveys. Therefore, this map is highly accurate (for the period) and has most contemporary town names correct, though historic names are, in many cases, incorrect or omitted.
