270 hand-drawn, unpublished map sheets of Prussian territory east of the Weser river, created between 1767 and 1787. Prussian officer Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Graf von Schmettau produced this work, considered the culmination of Prussian cartography, on his own initiative with support from Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm II. The original unique pieces are held by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and are available as multi-colour prints measuring 97 cm by 64 cm.
Use Cases
- Analyze historical land use and topography based on the detailed 1:50,000 scale maps.
- Study the evolution of cartographic techniques based on the hand-drawn, multi-colour production method.
- Research historical political boundaries and geography of Prussia based on the territorial coverage east of the Weser river.
Strengths
- Contains 270 individual map sheets, providing extensive geographical coverage.
- Created at a detailed scale of 1:50,000 for precise topographical representation.
- Produced over a 20-year period (1767-1787), offering a consistent historical snapshot.
Limitations
- Last updated 1787-12-29 23:53:28; freshness should be verified.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
- Source
- Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie
- Collection Method
- Hand-drawn topographical surveying conducted by Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Graf von Schmettau and his team.
- Time Range
- 1767 to 1787
- Freshness
- Historical dataset; not updated since 1787.
- Geography
- Prussian territory east of the Weser river, specifically the Dessau region (Section 98).