The Beginning of German Immigration to Missouri.

Second and best edition.

Gottfried Duden was among the first German immigrants to Missouri, having traveled there in 1824. He established a farm in the Missouri River valley between St. Louis and Hermann, Missouri. In 1827, Duden returned to Germany and finding it overpopulated, he wrote a book promoting immigration, which was first published in 1829. Duden's work gives glowing reviews of the lower Missouri River valley. His book compares it to the Rhineland of Germany, a comparison that would result in the area eventually being termed the Missouri Rhineland.

Duden's work met with a receptive audience in Germany and sparked a wave of immigration to the area. Throughout the 1830s, thousands read Duden's book and still more made the voyage to Missouri. By 1840, more than 38,000 Germans had settled in the lower Missouri River valley. German immigrants to Missouri were often called "followers of Duden." Duden never returned to Missouri as he had originally planned. Duden died in 1856, and is buried in Bonn, Germany, still owning his Missouri farm.

The map shows the whole state of Missouri and credits Fielding Lucas Jr., though it goes further east than Lucas's map. The map includes a diagram in the lower-left corner illustrating the numbering and division of township, which would have been useful to immigrants looking to buy land. The map was lithographed by Dunst & Comp., Bonn, Germany. It seems likely that Duden encountered Lucas's map of Missouri when traveling through Baltimore in 1824.

Sabin 21073:

Its significance lies in the influence on German emigration to the United States. Duden recommended that Germans settle in the state of Missouri or north of the Ohio River...his rose-colored descriptions of life on the frontier are credited with attracting thousands of his fellow countrymen to Missouri and neighboring Illinois.