Week 1 Introduction

1
Week 1 - Introduction

• Historical views and conceptions of the map
  (continued)
• Rise of the Dutch school of cartography 17th
  century, Willem Bleau (1571-1638), sons Joan
  Bleau and Cornelis Bleau, Johannes Jansson
  (1588-1664) (p146)
• Dutch sailors added geographic knowledge about
  Asia. The volume of maps being produced and
  published increased
• Dutch cartographers operated successful business
  in map and atlas publishing. Willem Bleau
  published the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of
  the World) in two volumes his sons extended the
  atlas into twelve volumes
• Jansson, co-worker with Jodocus Hondius, was the
  business rival of Bleau
• These rivals copied map information from each
  other

2
Some resources http//www.let.rug.nl/maps/frankd
erink/ http//www.artelino.com/articles/historica
l_maps_netherlands.asp http//www.henry-davis.com
/MAPS/Ren/Ren1/Reno.html http//www.maphistory.in
fo/collecting.html
3
A 17th century map publishing house in Antwerp,
Netherlands
4
Willem Bleaus Map of Britain
Willem Janszoon Bleau, 1571-1638, was official
cartographer for the East India Company
5
Willem Bleaus Novo Totius Terrarum Orbis
Geographica (Geography of the World)
6
Johannes Janssons Novo Totius Terrarum Orbis
Geographica (Geography of the World)
7
Details of East and Southeast Asia in Janssons
Geography of the World
8
Jadocus Hondius World Map of 1630
9
Week 1 - Introduction

• Historical views and conceptions of the map
  (continued)
• With larger numbers of maps being published, maps
  became more common and were no longer possessed
  only by explorers and royalty, but became
  available to those who could afford to purchase
  them.
• Geographic knowledge began to spread more rapidly
  than before.
• Large companies, such as the East India Company,
  which conduct a large amount of trading overseas
  had their own official cartographers.
• Meanwhile, map and atlas publishing became an
  important and profitable business.
• Dutch cartographers really made a great impact in
  the 17th century.

10
Week 1 - Introduction

• Historical views and conceptions of the map
  (continued)
• The 18th century became a very important one due
  to the influence of French cartographers.
• French cartographers began to produce maps with a
  very high degree of accuracy.
• Mapmaking in France became truly scientific,
  systematic and methodical when techniques of
  surveying were developed, particularly through
  the process of land triangulation.

11
Theodolite an instrument used to take sightings
of landmarks in a survey
12
Week 1 - Introduction

• Historical views and conceptions of the map
  (continued)
• The first step in a triangulation survey is the
  selection of a baseline of known length.
• The angles between lines of sight from the
  baselines endpoints to a distant landmark are
  then measured.
• These distances are then used as new baselines.
• This process is repeated until the entire area
  being surveyed is covered by a network or a grid
  of triangles.
• The grid provides a necessary skeleton on which
  topographic details can be accurately positioned.

13
Triangulation of France
14
Week 1 - Introduction

• Historical views and conceptions of the map
  (continued)
• One family with four generations of cartographers
  stood out to make a significant contribution.
  This is the Cassini family.
• Jacques Cassini followed in the footsteps of his
  father, Jean-Dominique, to create the first map
  of France to be based on the triangulation of the
  country that the family had initiated in the
  1670s.
• Aided by his son, Cesar-Francois Cassini de
  Thury, Jacques Cassini finally completed the
  18-sheet mapping project in 1744, now referred to
  as Carte de Cassini.
• It was the first accurate cartographic survey of
  an entire nation. Three years later,
  Cesar-Francois embarked on an even more detailed
  175-sheet mapping program, which was not to be
  completed until the 1790s.

15
Carte de Cassini, completed in 1744, was the
first land survey of a nation.
16
Week 1 - Introduction

• Historical views and conceptions of the map
  (continued)
• The Cassini family also compiled and published
  Carte de France from 1750-1815.
• It consists of 182 sheets of maps covering all of
  France at the same scale, allowing the sheets to
  be joined together with seamless geographic
  information to form a map about 39 feet high by
  38 feet wide.
• It is a physical map with rich historical
  cultural information and exquisite graphic art.

17
The accurately surveyed Carte de France reveals
the inaccuracies of previous national maps of
France.