In the early 18th century, the Nuremberg publishing house of Johann Homann (1664-1724) and his heirs was one of the leading firms in the production of maps. This map represents a combination of a larger-scale map of a region on the one hand and a city map on the other. The Memel district (today: Klaipeda in Lithuania) forms the northern tip of Prussian territory. In 1735, King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia gave Gumbinnen its town charter and settled Protestant refugees from Salzburg there.