Imaging the Past: Cartography and Multicultural Realities of Croatian Borderlands - Cartography: A Tool for Spatial Analysis - page 302

The beginning of the 18 th century was a time of relatively numerous changes of the border in
Dalmatia and a time of intensive cartographic work. Demarcation maps from that time
represent the very first topographic presentation of the Dalmatian hinterland. Alberghetti's
supplemented map of Dalmatia from 1732 presents three borderlines with the Ottoman
Empire; the old one from 1671 (Linea Nani), the one from 1700 (Linea Grimani) and the
newest one from 1720 and 1721 (Linea Mocenigo). The map contains the administrative
division of the territory that most Venetian maps have. The topography is very detailed
except orography and communication. Beyond the border, there is no presentation
whatsoever, except for some very general textual notifications of what may be found: “ Parte
della Licca ”, “ Parte della Bossina ”, “ Ercegouina ”. Thus, the central element of the map is the
development of the Venetian - Ottoman border in terms of territorial extension of Venetian
republic, disseminating the message of the Republic's power and control over the territory.
An obvious ignorance of Ottoman presence (and even existence) is shown through the
omission of recording their territory across the border [11]. In such a context the omissions
are as important as emphasizing (the “silence”).
These examples of decorative (Coronelli) and “scientific” cartography (Alberghetti), in spite
of differences in a technical sense, have some unifying and constant elements that
characterize the Venetian cartography of the borderlands. That is a strong rhetoric of power
and control in promotion and giving legitimacy to the territorial occupation.
Figure 3. Weigl's Map of the Imperial - Turkish border, 1702; facsimile in [20]