Henry Schenck Tanner (c. 1786–1858), was an American

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

, born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He produced ''A Geographical and Statistical Account of the Epidemic Cholera from its Commencement in India to its Entrance into the United States'' in 1832 in response to the worldwide cholera epidemic of 1817. Tanner wished to provide a geographic account of the spread of the disease, stating that other statistics concerning the epidemic were "given in such a loose and unconnected manner as to render a reference to them at once irksome and unprofitable." His publication included global, national and local maps, data tables showing number of deaths in different localities by country, and detailed maps of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

with small red dots indicating points where the disease had broken out. Tanner and his colleague John Vallance engraved the maps of the United States that were produced between 1816 and 1823 by geographer John Melish in Philadelphia and that were among the first widely spread US maps to include the West Coast territories then belonging to Mexico. Based on the southwestern corner of this US map, Tanner himself produced a map of Mexico in 1822, which was accepted by the Mexican Congress in 1826 and translated to Spanish by 1828. In 1846 Tanner had this map reprinted in a Second and Third Edition. This became the basis for the map of Mexico by John Disturnell in 1847, used in the boundary negotiations of the U.S. and Mexico following the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

. Tanner's map contained some errors, reproduced by Disturnell. Tanner engraved more maps of the United States on the county- and state-level in the 1820s and 1830s (among these, maps of Washington D.C., New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Connecticut, New York, North and South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee). He also published ''An atlas of ancient geography'' in 1826, containing 16 maps of Egypt, Greece, Holy Land and the Roman Empire in ancient times. For Stephen F. Austin, Tanner engraved and published a map of Texas in 1830 which was widely distributed. Modified several times, the Austin-Tanner map was kept up to date during the time of the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas (), or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, an ...

. Some other maps Tanner produced by 1840 were small-scale continental maps, covering for example the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, or the Pacific. In 1846, Tanner published ''A New Universal Atlas''.

References

External links

Tanner's 1822 map
from ''

The Oregon Encyclopedia ''The Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture'' is a collaborative encyclopedia focused on the history and culture of the U.S. state of Oregon. Description The encyclopedia is a project of Portland State University's History Department, the O ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, HS 1780s births 1858 deaths American cartographers Scientists from New York City

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