1884 Rossi Map of the United States, with American Indian Reservations

An interesting Italian 1884 map focusing on Native American reservations, other areas of settlement, and historical displacement that appeared in Egisto Rossi's Gli Stati Uniti e la concorrenza americana.

A Closer Look

Focusing on the historical and contemporary status of Native Americans, Rossi's map traces the reduction of Native held lands from the entire continent to a handful of reservations, marked in yellow, many of which were subsequently reduced in size, including the Great Sioux Reservation and the Indian Territory that would later become Oklahoma. Areas shaded red denote 'lands on which the right of possession by the Indians is on the verge of extinction'.

Other features present here clearly reflect the changing nature of the American West. Boom towns in western Montana (Virginia City, Deer Lodge City) were the recent products of the gold rush that took place there in the 1860s. In California, while more attention is still given to Northern California, Los Angeles and San Diego make an appearance in the southern part of the state.

A Premier on America

The present map and Rossi's entire book - clocking in at over 700 pages - provided an overview of the United States, particularly its economy. It was published in the early phase of a large peak of migration from Italy to the United States, some four million people between 1880 and 1920. Although most Italian immigrants settled in the industrial cities in the eastern U.S., a significant portion moved westwards to the Pacific Coast, especially San Francisco.

Publication History and Census

This map appeared in Egisto Rossi's book Gli Stati Uniti e la concorrenza americana. Studi di agricoltura industria e commercio da un recente viaggio, published in Florence by Tipografia di G. Barbèra in 1884. The map is not independently cataloged with any institution, while Rossi's entire work is noted among the holdings of some 40 institutions in the OCLC, though the intermingling of digital and physical copies makes a precise census difficult.