Mapmakers' Quest: Depicting New Worlds in Renaissance Europe
Depicting New Worlds in Renaissance Europe
1st Edition
Published on 22. May 2003
221 pages
978-0-19-153871-1 (ISBN)
Description
In 1400 Europe was behind large parts of the world in its understanding of the use of maps. For instance, the people gf China and of Japan were considerably more advanced in this respect. And yet, by 1600 the Europeans had come to use maps for a huge variety of tasks, and were far ahead of the rest of the world in their appreciation of the power and use of cartography. The Mapmakers' Quest seeks to understand this development - not only to tease out the strands of thoughtand practice which led to the use of maps, but also to assess the ways in which such use affected European societies and economies. Taking as a starting point the question of why there were so few maps in Europe in 1400 and so many by 1650, the book explores the reasons for this and its implications for European history. It examines, inter al, how mapping and military technology advanced in tandem, how modern states' territories were mapped and borders drawn up, the role of maps in shaping the urban environment, and cartography's links to the new sciences.
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Content
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Contents
- List of Plates
- List of Figures
- Introduction: Mapping during the Middle Ages
- 1. The influence of ancient Greece and Rome
- 2. The painterly origins of some European mapping, 1420-1650
- 3. Cartography among the ruling European elites, 1450-1650
- 4. Mapping in the expansion of Europe, 1400-1700
- 5. The maps drawn during the Military Revolution, 1500-1800
- 6. Mapping countryside and town in the new economies, 1570-1800
- Conclusion: The accelerating use of maps
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
