1859 Colton / Ondarza Folding Wall Map of Bolivia - a seminal map!

A magnificent and important map of extreme and often underappreciated multilevel significance; this is J. H. Colton and Juan Ondarza Lara's great national map of Bolivia. This map is highly significant and influential on a number of levels, any of which would, singly, make this a seminal map. First, it is in all likelihood the largest and most important map of Bolivia to appear in the 19th century. Second, it is the second national map produced by an American commercial publisher, J. H. Colton, at the behest of a foreign government. Third, and unfortunately, Colton was never paid for this map, which forced him into bankruptcy in 1859 and thus into an unclear business arrangement A. J. Johnson, whose use of Colton's map plates catalyzed his rise to become, for a time, the world's largest publisher.

The map itself is a titanic production and the result of surveys completed by Juan Ondarza, Juan Mariano Mujia, and to a lesser extent Lucio Camacho, between 1842 and 1858. Presented in Spanish, it covers all of Bolivia as it then stood, extending from the Rio Yavari to the Rio Madera, west to the Pacific, south as far as Puerto Copiapo, east to the confluence of the Rio Bermenjo and Rio Paraguay. Topography is rendered in hachure and the map is color coded by regional political divisions.

The First Scientific Map of Bolivia

When Bolivia gained its independence, the country was little more than a grab bag of warring regions. Self-rule caught it unprepared. It lacked political institutions, a governing class, a working constitution. Only the military could preserve the peace, and so it happened that he who ran the army ran the country. (Lawlor 1989: 137-38).

Military men have always been quick to realize the importance of cartography and Bolivia's military dictators, the caudillos, realized that an accurate map was the first step in consolidating and centralizing power. The first national map of Bolivia was issued in 1843 by the French surveyor Felipe Bertres (Mapa Corografico de la Republica de Bolivia, 1:2,400,000, Arrowsmith, London), but lacking actual survey work, was rife with error. Even before Bertres published his map, the military surveyors Ondarza and Mujia had been dispatched to complete a full scientific survey of the country. This was thus the first concerted effort to produce a detailed astronomical survey of Bolivia. The work, which took some 16 years, was described by Ondarza,

Strewn with immense, colossal, and terrible dangers, having to cross the country from one end to another, through primeval forests, wilderness, deep valleys and unhealthy, high, and inaccessible mountain ranges and frigid , raging rivers and finally compromising life apart from the savage tribes with whom we daily saw open struggle.

Labor inmensa, colosal y sembrada de terribles peligros, teniendo que recorrer el país de un confín a otro, a través de selvas vírgenes, desiertas, vegas profundas y malsanas, cordilleras altas e inaccesibles y frígidas, ríos caudalosos y en fin comprometiendo la vida, aparte de las tribus salvajes que a diario se veían en lucha abierta con ellos.

Political Instability in Bolivia

While Ondarza was busy completing his national survey of Bolivia, a pro-civilian 1857 military coup d'etat established Jose Maria Linares as Bolivia's new president. A progressive leader who anticipated a bright future for Bolivia, Linares enthusiastically supported Ondarza's survey and pushed for its publication in the form of a grand new national map. On March 8th of 1858 Ondarza was sent by the Linares government on a tour of Europe and the United States to contract publisher capable of consolidating the results of his massive survey into a single published work.

Colton, Meet Bolivia!

In New York, Ondarza found his man in J. H. Colton, then the largest publisher of maps in the United States. For quality and price, Ondarza determined Colton's work to be superior to European competitors of the same period. After some negotiation, on the 21st of September 1858, Ondarza contracted Colton to engrave and print 'artistically and in the best manner' 10000 copies of the map for 25,000 dollars (roughly equivalent to 750,000 USD today), 2,000 of which were paid outright as a deposit, the remainder to be remitted by the Bolivian government upon delivery of the 10,000 copies of the finished map. Colton took to the project with enthusiasm and, within the year, working hand-in-hand with Ondarza, produced a spectacular wall sized map, which was printed, colorized by hand, then dissected and laid down onto linen in 36 panels - as seen here.

In 1859 Colton shipped 2000 maps from the initial print run to Bolivia where they were well received and sold at 12 dollars (about 350 USD today) each. Delivery of the remaining 8000 copies was taken by Ondarza who sailed with them to the city of Arica in Tacna, Bolivia (now Chile). There they languished, locked in the customs warehouse until 1868, when Arica, and the rest of Tacna, was destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami (the Arica Earthquake of 1868). Some reports suggest that as many as 3000 of these may have escaped destruction to be subsequently sold in La Paz at 5 dollars per map.

Bolivia Refuses to Pay Colton

Meanwhile, despite the overwhelmingly positive reception of the original 2000 maps, the government of Bolivia failed to pay Colton. According to their original agreement, payment was due in March of 1860. There is a Bolivian government resolution dating to May 7 of 1860 ordering payment, but for some reason, no remittance was issued. Subsequently, with constant legal pressure from Colton and his lawyer, Rowan Hinten Helper, some 40 Bolivian legislative resolutions to pay followed, but again and again, no payment was forthcoming. Things became considerably more complicated after January of 1861 when Jose Maria Linares, whose name is on this map, was overthrown by his own minister of war, Jose Maria de Acha Valiente. Acha committed to pay Colton in installments of 800 dollars per month and most likely was sincere in his intent, but he himself was overthrown by Mariano Melgarejo in 1864.

Melgarejo Uses Colton's Map to Give Away the Country

Melgarejo was perhaps Bolivia's most incompetent caudillo. In one instance, Melgarejo is said to have been presented with a magnificent white horse by the minister of Brazil, most likely Jose Maria da Silva Paranhos, the Viscount of Rio Branco. To show his appreciation Melgarejo pulled out a gigantic map of Bolivia, no doubt an example this very map, laid it down on the ground, and tracing the horse's hoof granted all of the land contained within, the modern Brazilian state of Acre, to Brazil. This foolish move resulted in the loss much of Bolivia's rubber rich Amazon

Colton Driven into Bankruptcy – Sells out to Johnson

By the 1859 Colton, having paid out of pocket for the manufacture of some 10,000 of these enormous and remarkable maps, thus found himself in a situation of extreme financial hardship and seems to have incurred considerable debt in the process. Of this Colton writes,

I myself had had to pay seven per cent [interest], and, in some cases, considerably more than seven per cent, for money to sustain me in the very business wherein Bolivia, in consequence of having failed to fulfill her equitable obligations, greatly embarrassed and crippled me.

J. H. Colton and Company appears on the bankrupt rolls of the 1859 New York Postal Register. It is unclear exactly what happened at this point, but what is clear is that Colton came to an unspecified agreement, presumably in the form of some sort of financial bailout, with Alvin J. Johnson and Ross Browning. Colton either licensed or sold his printing plates to Johnson and Browning. In 1859 Colton's signature publication, the General Atlas gives credit to the new firm of 'Johnson and Browning'. Subsequently, in 1860, Johnson and Browning issued their own atlas, the first edition of Johnson's New Illustrated (Steel Plate) Family Atlas, which identified Colton as the publisher. Johnson's atlas, while making use of the Colton map plates, was a cheaper production and consequently more accessible. It enjoyed enormous commercial success, catapulting Johnson to become the world's largest publishers by 1864. As for Colton, he continued to publish his own Colton's General Atlas but seems to have shared map plates with Johnson for the remainder of his career.

Colton vs. Bolivia and Appeals to Congress

Colton himself continued to seek redress with Bolivia over the matter of the unpaid Mapa de la Republica de Boliva. Finally, in 1874, still unpaid, Colton appealed directly to the United States congress to intervene. With his lawyer, Hinton Rowan Helper, Colton published for submission to congress the booklet Bolivia, as the Insidious Author and Persistent Perpetrator of a New International Crime. The United States Senate subsequently passed a resolution on January 19, 1875 to intervene with the government of Bolivia on Colton's behalf. The Bolivian government finally began paying Colton erratically over the next several years - often through banks in Peru who siphoned off as much as 50% of the payments. Some claims suggest that Colton was ultimately paid some 200,000 USD, including interest, but we find this highly questionable. After paying substantial legal fees and repayment of loans, it is more likely Colton only received a small portion of the original 23,000 USD due.

History of the Map

This map is now extremely rare. The history of the map can be broken down as follows. According to Colton, 10,000 examples of this map were produced. Two thousand were delivered to La Paz, of which one thousand were sold at 12 USD each. An additional 8,000 were shipped to Tanca via the Peruvian port of Arica, where they languished in the Bolivian customs house until being lost in the 1868 Arica Earthquake. Some references suggest that as many as 3000 of these may have survived and were sold at 5 USD per map. Less reliable references suggest that others were offered for sale in Buenos Aires for 25 USD per map, although this is highly uncertain. Over the years some filtered back to North America and to Europe, but most were destroyed or lost during Bolivia's political turmoil of the late 19th century.

The First (or Second) Foreign National Map Published in the United States

This map has long been considered the first foreign national map published in the United States. However, in 2016, we discovered an earlier map of the first Republic of Colombia, issued by Tanner, that we believe hold this distinction. The Tanner map, issued at the behest of the Bolivar government in Colombia, was issued in 1825, making this map of Bolivar the second foreign national map published in the United States.

And so, at last, this important map is put into some historical context while offered here for sale. In recap, Colton and Ondarza's map of Bolivia is a) the largest and most important map of Bolivia published in the 19th century, b) is the second foreign national map produced by an American commercial publisher at the behest of a foreign nation, c) and the cost of its publication, and the compounding refusal of Bolivia to pay the agreed sum, resulted directly in the bankruptcy of America's premier cartographic publisher and at the same time contributed to the rise of A. J. Johnson, who would in a short time become the world's largest publisher.

All in all, one of the most interest maps with one of the most compelling stories we have ever encountered.