Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
attitudes and skills, including the local knowledge that is related to the internal power of
map. This context is related to the general statement that maps are, like art, a particular
human way of looking at the world. Second context is a context of other maps that ensure
and emphasize the importance of multiple maps, perspectives and polysemy. Third context
is the context of society and points out to the importance of positioning the map within
societal-power relations, i.e. within specific historical, social and political conditions, from
which it cannot be extracted or generalized [2,10]. The contexts of other maps and society (or
societal environment) are directly connected and linked to the external power of the map. It
can be seen through maps made by different actors that are reflecting different or even
opposed approaches to the territory that were embedded in the society and culture of the
particular period and place [11].
Based on the iconographic studies by E. Panofsky [6], Harley has defined a number of
semantic layers of the map. The symbolic one often has ideological connotations. It refers to
power relationships, distinction of social groups and system of beliefs, to worldviews and to
what may be called as a spirit of time.
Scholars in Croatia have recently addressed these topics from various perspectives. The first
writings embrace the topics of cartographic perceptions and the state power interests of the
multiple borderlands of Croatia [11,12], different perceptions of Croatian lands in Croatian
and other European cartographic traditions [13], toponymy and perceptions [14,15], the
relation of cartography, place-names and regional identities [16], the political rhetoric of
maps [17] and recently the cartographic visualization and the image of Other [18].
Imaging the past of the multicultural space of the early modern Croatian borderlands was
based primarily on deconstructing the maps of the time, as the main research and
methodological approach. Reading between the lines, in the margins of the textuality of
map, searching for metaphors, evaluating the presence or absence (silencing) of information;
in short - tracing the rhetoric of map and its symbolic meaning and/or political messages.
Key elements of analysis were place-names and smaller cartographic transcriptions and
objections as they are as much related to an invisible social world and to ideology as they
are to the material world that can be seen and measured. All the contexts were appreciated,
especially the importance of the multiplicity of perspectives.
The analysis is based on the cartographic originals of the time from the map collections of
the Croatian State Archives, The National and University Library and the Museum of
Croatian History, as well as on the numerous published facsimiles [19, 20, 21]. A selection of
maps and a comparative approach enable an insight into the different cartographic
representations and images of the borderlands within different traditions and even within
the framework of a single, overarching tradition.
3. Spatial, temporal and cultural context
In the course of three centuries (16
th
- 19
th
), the territory of Early Modern Croatia was
determined by the borderlands of three imperial systems of the time: Habsburg Monarchy,
