The following is a list of 25 map clusters one might consider essential for teaching German history for the period 1500 to 1870. They are ordered roughly chronologically, as outlined in the table of contents, and conform loosely to the topics, such as "Early Maps of Germany," in the navigation bar above. The bar brings you directly to the topics.
I briefly describe the maps, and (where possible) offer a link to a high resolution version of them. The links also lead to more precise attribution data.
There is purposely very little overlap in the two sets of lists. One important difference is that my list includes many more period maps, whereas the GHI maps are almost all done in the second half of the 20th century, and most of them are very professional maps produced at the IEG Mainz. I have also included some of my own maps (HWS Maps) or old maps in my collection (HWS Collection). But I have not included maps that one might find in someone's scholarly book, as this is a clear copyright violation if done without written permission.
It should also be noted that many, if not most, of the best maps are regional. Included below is an annotated list of some of the outstanding regional atlases and regional historical map portals online.