English: Detail cropped from a mid 18th century map showing the territory of the Free Imperial City of Augsburg (in red). Augsburg's sovereignty extended only over the city proper and part of the immediate surrounding.

Unlike its main rival Nuremberg, which had succeeded in acquiring an extensive hinterland with dozens of towns and villages, Augsburg, despite its wealth, was never able to expand territorially due to the presence of powerful neighbors: the Duchy of Bavaria to the east (in white on map), the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg to the South (in pink) and the Austrian-ruled Burgau to the west (in light peach). The territory in green was part of "Fuggerland" a complex of territories that the Fugger, the celebrated Augsburg-based banking and merchant familly, has succeded in acquiring in Swabia since the 16th century.

Cropped out of map four of a multi-map series centered on the Circle of Swabia titled Per Inclyti Circuli Suevici Supremorum Ordinum, etc. published by Augsburg publisher Johann Andreas Pfeffel in 1746.