[R-sig-Geo] land area of New Spain / Mexico 1790-present?
Spencer Graves
spencer.graves at prodsyse.com
Fri Nov 10 09:23:48 CET 2017
Where might I find historical data on the land area claimed by
New Spain / Mexico vs. the United States, say, 1790 - present?
I found a table of land area of the US for each census 1790 -
2000 at "http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h986.html", and I found maps
at
"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Non-Native-American-Nations-Territorial-Claims-over-NAFTA-countries-1750-2008.gif"
with narrative at
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_North_America_since_1763"
and
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Spain#/media/File:Map_of_the_Viceroyalty_of_New_Spain.svg".
If I understand correctly, Mexico today is just under 2 million
km^2. With independence in 1821, it lost just over 500,000 km^2 in
Central America. Before that, as New Spain, it lost 2.1 million km^2 in
the Napoleonic Wars eventually to the US in 1803. If this is correct, it
was roughly 4.6 million km^2 prior to the Napoleonic Wars. This does
not count the loss of Florida and islands in the Pacific and the
Caribbean, which I think are smaller than these other territories.
Thanks,
Spencer Graves
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