David Rumsey Map Collection

Heights of Mountains, Lengths of Rivers

For over 100 years, atlas and map publishers in the United States and Europe published a style of map that was a visualization of the heights and lengths of the world's mountains and rivers.  Some of the earliest examples appeared in Europe towards the end of the 18th century.  In the United States, the form was popular throughout the 19th century and the early part of the 20th.  These maps appeared in atlases, as wall maps, and as pocket maps.  One of the most elegant examples was engraved originally on copper by map publisher Henry Tanner in Philadelphia in 1836 and then continued by S. Augustus Mitchell, also of Philadelphia, in lithographic versions into the 1850's.  The example below was published by Mitchell in 1846.

The Mountains and Rivers maps appeared in several styles and formats.  One of the earliest styles was to show just mountains, piled up in a landscape, with a key of mountain heights on the left and right sides of the illustration.  Also listed on the side would be the highest flights of the Condor, limits of plants and trees, elevations of lakes, elevation of certain high altitude cites, and climate zones.  An early example in the Rumsey collection is Charles Smith's Comparative View of the Heights of the Principal Mountains &c. In The World, published in London in 1816:

Eight examples in this style are shown below.  Each uses a different method to unpack the dense information contained in the maps:  a grid system, a numbering system, elevation lines and an outline chart. (click on images to enlarge)

A comparative view of the heights of the principal mountains and other elevations in the World. Drawn & engraved for Thomson's New general atlas by W. & D. Lizars, Edinburgh; Thomson, John; 1817. Thomson's map uses a grid system to identify the locations on the left and right sides of the map.	Map And Description Of The Principal Mountains, &c. Throughout The World. Western Hemisphere. Eastern Hemisphere. Comparative Heights Of The Principal Mountains And Other Elevations In The World; Carey, H. C.; Lea, I.; 1822. A numbering system is used on this map.  Carey and Lea copied the Thomson map on the left.
Comparative Height of the Principal Mountains and other Elevations in the World. J. Cone Sc. Published by F. Lucas Jr. Baltimore; Lucas, Fielding Jr.; 1823. Lucas also copied the Thomson map above, but introduced a new system of an outline map and key.	Tableau comparatif des principales hauteurs du globe. D'apres A.M. Perrot; Perrot, A. M. (Aristide Michel), 1793-1879; Vandermaelen, Philippe, 1795-1869;  1827. Vandermaelen used a combination of grid and numbering system in his map.
A comparative view of the heights of the principal mountains of Scotland. (with) View of the Grampian Mountains, being a specimen of the formation of that range; Thomson, John; McKenzie, D.; 1832. Thomson used a grid system to identify the mountains of Scotland and an oblique view to show the Grampians.	Tableau comparatif de la forme et de la hauteur des principales montagnes du globe terrestre, dedie a Monsieur le Baron, Alexdre. de Humboldt;  Andriveau-Goujon, J.; Bruguiere, Louis;  1850. Andriveau-Goujon used a system of elevation lines.
Geographical distribution of indigenous vegetation. The distribution of plants in a perpendicular direction in the torrid, temperate and frigid zones...; Henfrey, Arthur, 1819-1859; Johnston, Alexander Keith, 1804-1871; Schouw, Joakim Frederik, 1789-1852; 1854. While this map shows the elevation of mountains, it focuses more on the distribution of plants at different elevations around the globe.	Cuadro general de alturas comparativas del Peru; Paz Soldan, Mariano Felipe, 1821-1886; 1865. Paz Soldan used a numbering system to show the comparative elevations of the cities and mountains of Peru.

 

Another popular style combined heights of mountains and lengths of rivers in one view.  The rivers are stretched out in single lines, with the longest on the left combining with the shortest mountains, while the shortest rivers combine with the highest mountains on the right.  The visual result is very compelling. One of the earliest examples was W.R. Gardner's Comparative Heights of the Principal Mountains and Lengths of the Principal Rivers, published by William Darton in London in 1823:

Three examples of this style are shown below. (click on images to enlarge).

A comparative view of the heights of the principal mountains and lengths of the principal rivers of the World; Fenner, Rest.; 1835. Fenner hangs the rivers below the mountains in this map.	Mountains & Rivers; Colton, G.W; 1856. The Colton firm published this map in their world atlas from 1856 to 1880 and perhaps later.  The mountains are keyed to a list on a separate page.

The map below is an unusual example that divides the mountains and rivers maps into five illustrations of the continents.

A third variation of the mountain and rivers designs was putting the mountains in the center of the view with the rivers extending downward on each side.  One of the earliest examples of this type was published by Henry Tanner in 1836, Heights of the Principal Mountains in the World.

John Dower and Henry Teasdale published another version in London in 1844 titled Principal Mountains and Rivers of the World.  It is possible that there was an earlier version of this London map that Tanner copied from - a common practice of American mapmakers in the first half of the 19th century - but Tanner's map is centered on information important to American readers and the Dower/Teasdale map is oriented to England and Europe.

Other examples of this style:

Heights Of The Principal Mountains In The World; Tanner, Henry S.; Philadelphia; 1845. A later edition of Tanner's 1836 map with updates to the statics.	Heights Of The Principal Mountains In The World; Mitchell, Samuel Augustus; Philadelphia; 1846. Mitchell acquired the rights to Tanner's atlas and published his own version of the 1845 Tanner map, with little change to the map itself, while transferring it to lithography and adding a decorative border.
A Comparative View Of The Principal Waterfalls, Islands, Lakes, Rivers and Mountains, In The Western Hemisphere; Martin, R.M.; Tallis, J. & F.; New York; 1851. Tallis and Martin published this impressive pile up of mountains, rivers, waterfalls, and lakes.  The Western Hemisphere view.	A Comparative View Of The Principal Waterfalls, Islands, Lakes, Rivers and Mountains, In The Eastern Hemisphere; Martin, R.M.; Tallis, J. & F.; New York; 1851. The Eastern Hemisphere view.
Western Hemisphere; Mitchell, Samuel Augustus; Philadelphia; 1880. In Mitchell's version, he adds the hemisphere maps as well as the polar views - here the Western Hemisphere.	Eastern Hemisphere; Mitchell, Samuel Augustus; Philadelphia; 1880. And here the Eastern Hemisphere, replacing the polar views with the greatest mass of land and greatest mass of water views.

Gray's new map of the World in hemispheres, with comparative views of the heights of the principal mountains and lengths of the principal rivers on the globe, of 1885, provided a simplified view of the mountains and rivers.  It appeared in George N. Colby's Atlas of the State of Maine, 1885.

The double hemisphere style continued to the end of the 19th century, as shown by Rand McNally's Western Hemisphere, Eastern Hemisphere, of 1897 from their Indexed Atlas of the World.

There are other types of mountains and rivers maps that defy categories.  Many atlas publishers issued them in pairs, such as this mountains and rivers pages from Anthony Finley's General Atlas of 1831:

Table of the Comparative Heights of the Principal Mountains &c. in the World; Finley, Anthony, Philadelphia, 1831.	Table of the Comparative Lengths of the Principal Rivers throughout the World; Finley, Anthony, Philadelphia, 1831.

And this pair from Antonio Garcia Cubas' beautiful Atlas Pintoresco, an illustrated atlas of Mexico published in 1885:

Carta Orografica. VI; Garcia Cubas, Antonio, 1832-1912; Mexico; 1885.	Carta Hydrografica. VII; Garcia Cubas, Antonio, 1832-1912; Mexico; 1885.

School atlases often used schematic pairs of charts to indicate the heights of mountains and the lengths of rivers:

Comparative heights of mountains; Worcester, Joseph E.; Boston; 1826	Comparative lengths of rivers; Worcester, Joseph E.; Boston; 1826

And some examples show unique local interpretations such as Thomson's Comparative view of the lengths of the principal rivers of Scotland from 1822:

Or this example from Venezuela, Augutin Codazzi's Un cuadro de alturas que comprende las de las cordilleras de Merida... of 1840:

The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) had a remarkable plate in their 1844 World Atlas of A map of the principal rivers shewing their courses, countries, and comparative lengths:

A map of the principal rivers shewing their courses, countries, and comparative lengths,  Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledg, London, 1844

The final map in this series is from one of the last decorative 19th century atlases, the Royal Illustrated Atlas by Fullarton, 1872, Comparative Views of the Heights of the Principal Mountains and Basins of the principal Rivers... It combines an unusual showing of the basins of the major world rivers with the principal mountains of the world which also show the major geographical distributions of plant regions of the globe by altitude, a Humboldt inspired convention.

For more information on the subject of mountains and rivers maps, see the excellent post on BibliOdyssey as well as John Wolter's extensively researched article in the Quaterly Journal of the Library of Congress, The Heights of Mountains and the Lengths of Rivers.