Colonial Borders on School Maps. Sydow-Wagner’s Methodical School Atlas, 1878–1928

When the first edition of Sydow-Wagner’s Methodical School Atlas (Sydow-Wagners methodischer Schul-Atlas) left the printing press in Gotha in 1888, the mapmakers must have breathed a sigh of relief. For ten years, drafts had been sent back and forth—initially between Gotha and Königsberg, later between Gotha and Göttingen. Requests for rapid revisions frequently came from Gotha (e.g. Perthes 1881). In...