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NOTE: German and French abstracts are given in the printed volume
ISIDORE, OROSIUS AND THE
BEATUS MAP, by JOHN WILLIAMS
Beatus of Liébana's Commentary on the
Apocalypse (Spain, 776) drew heavily on Tyconius' Commentary (North
Africa, late fourth century), which is a probable source for the world map
Beatus used to show the apostolic dissemination of the Faith. A map based
on Orosius' Historiarum adversus paganos libri VII (Seven Books of
History against the Pagans) is another possible model for Beatus' map, and
it would have differed only slightly from one following Isidore of
Seville's Etymologiae. Surviving maps in Beatus Commentaries
incorporate features from both sources. One notable feature from Isidore
is an interior ocean separating a `fourth continent' from the usual three
parts of the ecumene. Contrary to common interpretation, this fourth part
represents not an antoecumenical hemisphere but the southernmost zone of
the inhabited world. Although the map in the Beatus codex now in Burgo de
Osma (dated 1086) is usually recognised as the best witness to the
original Beatus map, that in Morgan 644 (dated 940) may provide a more
reliable guide.
THE SAWLEY MAP AND OTHER WORLD MAPS IN
TWELFTH-CENTURY ENGLAND, by P. D. A. HARVEY
The misnamed `Henry of Mainz' world map of the late twelfth or
early thirteenth century comes from Sawley Abbey, Yorkshire, but
was probably drawn either at Durham Cathedral Priory or from a
Durham exemplar. In this note, the map is set into the context of
recent work on the manuscript volume containing the map and on
the text it accompanies. The evidence for other world maps in
twelfth-and early thirteenth-century England is examined, and it
is shown how the words mappa mundi in a booklist do not
necessarily mean a map.
JOHN NORDEN (C.1547-1625): ESTATE SURVEYOR,
TOPOGRAPHER, COUNTY MAPMAKER AND DEVOTIONAL WRITER, by FRANK
KITCHEN
This paper examines John Norden's career as a surveyor, places
his maps and other topographical work in this context, and
describes his long struggle for patronage -- the key to official
position in the England of Elizabeth I and James I. Norden
finally gained positions under these monarchs and became a
trusted servant to the Earl of Salisbury and senior surveyor to
the Duchy of Cornwall. His devotional writing is also reviewed as
a counterpoint to his work as a surveyor.
TWO IRANIAN WORLD MAPS FOR FINDING THE
DIRECTION AND DISTANCE TO MECCA, by DAVID A. KING
Two Islamic brass scientific instruments, each bearing a map of
the world for finding the direction and distance to Mecca, have
come to light since 1989. They both appear to date from Safavid
Iran, possibly from the late seventeenth century. Each is a copy
of a different earlier map of the same kind, and both these
derive from a more elaborate prototype. They are the only known
surviving Islamic world maps with localities properly marked on a
competently drawn coordinate grid. Serious activity in
mathematical cartography, including the preparation of detailed
world maps, is known to have started in Baghdad in the ninth
century, and it is likely that the highly sophisticated
cartographic grids on the Safavid world maps were first developed
several centuries before these two maps were made.
A PAPIER-MÂCHÉ RELIEF MAP: THE
`BOCHO-DOZU' FROM THE EDO ERA IN JAPAN, by
HIROTADA KAWAMURA
A huge papier-mâché relief map of the old provinces of Suo and
Nagato (now Yamaguchi) in Japan was created in the middle of the
eighteenth century by Kisota Arima, an official cartographer for
the Hagi-han (clan). The relief model, or `Bocho-dozu', consists
of seventeen main blocks and more than one hundred separate
island blocks. It is probably the largest relief map made during
the Edo Era, and represents the culmination of Kisota's life's
work.
THE ENVIRONS MAP: VIENNA AND ITS
SURROUNDINGS C.1600-C.1850, by JAN MOKRE
Maps showing a town together with its surroundings form a
distinctive, if diverse, genre, the environs map. Such maps can
be described according to function or intended use and include
military, administrative, judicial, economic and communications
maps as well as maps associated with the development of
recreation and with local improvement projects. In this paper,
attention is focused on two types of environs maps from Vienna:
those showing projected hydrological schemes and those prepared
primarily for use in connection with recreational facilities for
the townsfolk.
A PROGRAMME FOR MAP PUBLISHING: THE HOMANN
FIRM IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, by MARKUS HEINZ
As the most important specialized enterprise in
eighteenth-century Germany, the Homann map printing firm affords
a good case for an investigation of the factors underlying map
production. Commercial success seems to have rested on the
production of maps which made a political statement as well as
presenting geographical and topographical information.
Publication of maps concerning specific events, such as sieges,
or based on new surveys had no chance of success until the
publishing firm had achieved commercial stability with its basic
stock of maps.
CARTOGRAPHY IN THE SERVICE OF REFORM POLICY
IN LATE ABSOLUTIST BAVARIA, c.1750-1777, by DANIEL SCHLÖGL
Three cartographical enterprises were connected with the reform
policy of the Bavarian government in the second half of the
eighteenth century: the road mapping project of 1752; the mapping
ambitions of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (1761-1776); and
the production of a group of customs maps (1764-1768). Both the
Strassendirektion's and the Academy's projects should be regarded
as initial steps towards a completely new survey of Bavaria --
the first since Philipp Apian produced his map in the sixteenth
century -- and as clearing the way for modern Bavarian
cartography from 1801. The last is a special case of thematic
mapping with a legal character. The period merits further study
because it sheds light on the correlation between cartography and
an enlightened reform policy.
MAPPING BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA: THE CASE OF
G.S.G.S. 2230, by ELRI LIEBENBERG
The Topographical Survey of the Orange Free State, executed by
the British War Office between 1905 and 1911, was not only one of
the first but also one of the finest topographical surveys to be
undertaken in British colonial Africa. The motivation for this
undertaking stemmed from three sources: the personal interest of
Sir David Gill (H.M. Astronomer at the Cape) in the measurement
of the arc of the 30th meridian; Britain's imperialistic
intervention in South Africa which resulted in the South African
War (1899-1902) against the Boer Republics and which stressed the
need for reliable military maps for warfare as well as for the
general defence of the new colonies; and the need for accurate
maps for purposes of colonial administration and land tenure. The
survey took five and a half years to complete, and the 1:125,000
series (G.S.G.S. 2230) that was compiled represented the only
accurate maps of this part of the continent for almost seven
decades.
THE PRESIDENT'S GLOBE, by ARTHUR H.
ROBINSON
In 1942 the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Map
Division compiled the map for a 50-inch globe that was to be
given to President Roosevelt by Colonel William J. Donovan, the
OSS Director. Instead, acting on a suggestion by General Dwight
D. Eisenhower, General George C. Marshall arranged to have one of
the large globes presented to Prime Minister Winston Churchill
and another to President Roosevelt as 1942 Christmas gifts from
the Army. Ultimately, the Weber Costello Company of Chicago
Heights, Illinois, produced some twelve or fifteen copies of the
President's Globe between 1942 and 1955 when the company ceased
operation. Churchill's globe is now at Chartwell and Roosevelt's
is at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. The story of these
globes is based on the the recollection of the author, who was
involved in the map making.
THE PRESIDENT'S MAP CABINET, by JOHN B.
GARVER, Jr.
The entry of the United States of America into the Second World
War produced an urgent need for maps, especially in government
and military circles. The National Geographic Society made a
number of its publications available and scarcely two weeks after
Pearl Harbor presented President Roosevelt with a specially
designed map cabinet, accommodating 24 maps on 19 rollers with 15
or more map gazetteers. Roosevelt later asked for one for the
British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill as a personal gift.
THE PRIME MINISTER'S GLOBE AND MAP CABINET,
by CHRISTOPHER BOARD AND CATHERINE DELANO SMITH
[A footnote to the above two articles, based on a visit to
Chertwell to report on the present state of the globe and the map
cabinet given to Winston Churchill]