The mapmakers' quest : depicting new worlds in Renaissance Europe
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The mapmakers' quest : depicting new worlds in Renaissance Europe
Oxford University Press, 2003
- Other Title
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The map makers' quest
Available at 15 libraries
Note
Bibliography: p. [201]-215
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
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 thought and 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.
Table of Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1. Locational imagery during the Middle Ages
- 2. The mapping impulse during the later Middle Ages
- 3. The cartographic conversion of the European elites
- 4. The mapping of European overseas expansion 1400-1700
- 5. The cartography of the Military Revolution 1500-1750
- 6. Maps in the process of government 1450-1750
- 7. Varieties of religious cartography 1500-1750
- 8. Urban and rural images: mapping the new economy 1570-1800
- 9. The map in the European cultural matrix 1500-1800
- Conclusion: Cartography and the rise of the West
- Index
by "Nielsen BookData"