It is not long since the use of paper maps was once a part of everyday life and basic education. However, the rise of faster and more accurate navigation systems, facilitated by the use of satellites and the Internet, has gradually erased their presence and reduced their relevance. In the mid-nineteenth century, in Germany where Heinrich Berghaus lived, and surely also in many other parts of the world, the possession of geographical atlases was part of the essential collection of libraries, schools and homes with the possibility of education. Heinrich Berghaus (1797-1884) was a geographer and cartographer, author of several books and volumes of German and universal geography, as well as editor of several important publications in his field, such as the outstanding magazine Hertha (1824-1829), co-edited with Karl Friedrich Hoffmann. This magazine included Alexander von Humboldt among its collaborators and was published under the imprint of Cotta (Stuttgart). His most famous work is the Physical Atlas (1845-1848), published with Perthes. Berghaus's apprentices also participated in its creation, and it was in his own cartography school that many of these maps were engraved.
Its notoriety is due, in large part, to the fact that it has been perceived as a cartographic illustration of Alexander von Humboldt's Cosmos (1845-1862). The relationship between both works, however, is more complex and, although there is undoubtedly a link that unites them, Berghaus's atlas has a life of its own. We are faced with a large-format book, profusely illustrated with engravings, paintings, maps and portraits, the result of a coordinated effort by several institutions - UNAM, the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, El Colegio Mexiquense, the governments of the State of Mexico and Mexico City, the Fundación Colegio de Posgraduados en Ciencias Agrícolas - to do justice to such an important work. This project will consist of three volumes – the last containing H. Berghaus’ maps based on the text of Cosmos – and will be published in 2024.