No. 13: Hidalgo is the state plate from the second edition of the Atlas Geográfico de la República Mexicana, prepared in 1922 by Mexico’s Dirección de Estudios Geográficos y Climatológicos for the Secretaría de Agricultura y Fomento. The sheet marries physical and political geography with rare poise: relief is modeled through refined shading, while color tints and a meticulous symbology fix roads, railways, rivers, lakes, and jurisdictional boundaries in crisp balance. Across the composition, towns and cities are named with disciplined clarity—Pachuca, Tulancingo, Tula de Allende, Apan, Mineral de la Reforma, Tepeji del Río, Actopan, Zimapán, Progreso de Obregón, and Huejutla de Reyes among them—yielding an authoritative portrait of a state whose landscapes sweep from volcanic uplands to humid eastern foothills. It is a lucid geographic narrative, disciplined yet quietly expressive.

The map emerges from a concerted national enterprise led by Jefe Ing. Sotero Prieto and Jefe Ing. Luciano Lopez Sorcini, whose team fused field surveys, geodesy, and climatology into a rigorous, standardized atlas program. Issued under the aegis of the Secretaría de Agricultura y Fomento, the work spoke to planners, educators, and engineers seeking dependable baselines for infrastructure and land management in the early postrevolutionary years. Its technical excellence is matched by printing artistry: zincographers such as Antonio Hernandez brought the plates to life with crystalline linework, clean hatching, and exact registration of color. The result is a document that is at once programmatic and historical—an official state portrait that encodes policy horizons, natural endowments, and lived geographies in a single, legible plane.

Hidalgo’s physiography is rendered with an eye for form and process. Shaded relief articulates the eastern buttresses of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the intermontane basins and high plateaus around Pachuca, and the dry, sunlit expanses of the Valle del Mezquital. Hydrology is a strong narrative thread: the courses of the Moctezuma and Tula rivers, along with attendant streams and lacustrine pockets, stitch together canyons, arroyos, and floodplains that organize settlement and cultivation. Ridge lines and saddles, gently darkened, reveal the logic of passes and watersheds, while the broken uplands near Zimapán and the descending, greener corridors toward Huejutla de Reyes hint at the state’s climatic gradients. The visual rhetoric is scientific, yet it communicates the drama of terrain with unmistakable immediacy.

Human networks are traced with equal discipline. Roads and railroads connect mining districts, market towns, and agricultural valleys in a skeleton of modernity laid across much older routes. From Pachuca, lines radiate toward Mineral districts and the central plateau; trunk corridors knit Tulancingo, Apan, Actopan, and Tula de Allende to Tepeji del Río and beyond, reflecting flows of ore, grain, and maguey from the celebrated plains of Apan. Stations, junctions, and river crossings are placed with the deliberation of an engineer’s notebook, while municipal and district boundaries are stepped and tinted to clarify governance. A careful typographic hierarchy distinguishes cities from rancherías and haciendas, ensuring the reader can see, at a glance, how landscape, economy, and authority interlock.

As design, the sheet is a masterclass in early twentieth-century Mexican official cartography: restrained color, scrupulous line, and shaded relief that imparts a convincing third dimension without crowding the page. As evidence, it distills the atlas’s dual mandate—technical precision for the state and a historical mirror for the nation—into a single state study that rewards close reading. Historians of rail, agrarian reform, and mining will find coordinates and corridors that anchor inquiry; cultural geographers will find narratives embedded in naming and settlement patterns. For the discerning collector, No. 13: Hidalgo stands at the confluence of science and craft, a lucid, enduring testament to how Mexico mapped itself on the cusp of modernity.

Cities and towns on this map

• Pachuca
• Tulancingo
• Tula de Allende
• Apan
• Mineral de la Reforma
• Tepeji del Río
• Actopan
• Zimapán
• Progreso de Obregón
• Huejutla de Reyes

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Roads and railroads connecting various human settlements.
• Clearly marked political boundaries and county lines.
• Major rivers and lakes indicated on the map.
• Topographical shading illustrating elevation changes across the landscape.
• Labels for towns and cities, with information on their locations.

Historical and design context

• No. 13: Hidalgo (state plate from the Atlas Geográfico de la República Mexicana).
• Created in 1922 by the Dirección de Estudios Geográficos y Climatológicos as part of the atlas’s second edition (1919–1921).
• Published by the Secretaría de Agricultura y Fomento and the Dirección de Estudios Geográficos y Climatológicos, overseen by Jefe Ing. Sotero Prieto and Jefe Ing. Luciano Lopez Sorcini.
• Zincographic contributions by Antonio Hernandez; the atlas serves as both a technical and a historical document.
• Covers Hidalgo state, Mexico.
• Detailed color map emphasizing both physical and political geography.
• Reflects early 20th-century Mexican cartographic tradition; valued by historians and collectors for its depiction of landscape and cultural narratives.

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 70in (180cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.