Maps in the world: A History of Imagined Realities

Höög, Victoria

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Ymer

Published: 01/01/2008

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Citation for published version (APA):

Höög, V. (2008). Maps in the world: A History of Imagined Realities. Ymer.

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 Maps of the World: a History of Imagined
Realities

victoria höög

introduction
Nowadays, many of us start a trip to an unknown location by logging
onto the computer, typing in the departure address and the required des-
tination, and requesting a route. After a few seconds, a detailed road de-
scription appears on the screen together with a two-dimensional map. If
I use Google Earth, a three-dimensional view of the required destination
appears. My use of a computer map search illustrates a new phenome-
non, namely, that in the digitalized map world, a personal travel advice
function can be added to a standardized map available to the public.1
The history of maps is a story that parallels the cultural, economic,
political and scientific history of the world – or any historical develop­
ment of the world. Maps are products by the cartographers’ skills, but
are also characterized by the context in which they are made and used.
The story can be told from different perspectives.
One possible start could be the dawn of civilization with the appear­
ance of Homo sapiens. Usually, we consider cave paintings, dating back
about 100 000 years, to be the first cultural artifacts. Often, they are in­
terpreted as an expression of the inherent artistic essence dwelling in
the human being. Hence, the hunters and gatherers were the first crea­

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tive artists to depict their imagined or real world. However, these cave
paintings can also be interpreted as maps that were made to represent
the cosmological and earthly order of the world. (Cosgrove 2007).
We rarely have difficulties in agreeing that using signs and symbols is
a universal inherent attribute of the human mind. Symbols communic­
ate the meaning of the experienced world. If we accept that the func­
tion of the symbols is to create order, then the symbols work in the
same way as maps, i.e. they are more than aesthetic artistic expres­
sions.
The history of maps could be written as a parallel to the history of
science. It is even hard to imagine the scientific view of the world with­
out it being communicated by pictorial maps and illustrations. For ex­
ample, expanding geographical knowledge during the sixteenth cen­
tury made the Ptolemaic world map obsolete. New world maps were
produced that included the continents of North and South America,
for example, in Martin Waldseemüller’s Universalis Cosmographia map,
made from 1507. Further, the scientifically inspired maps illustrated
new scientific discoveries such as geological layers, magnetic declina­
tion and density of population. These discoveries were real facts, but
without the maps they would have been purely theoretical descriptions
of the world, invisible to the observer’s everyday range of senses. The
power of maps and pictures helped science to acquire its prestigious
and superior position in modern Western society.
The focus of this article is the historical use of maps. The argument is
that the using maps has a common feature, independent of time and
space, namely that the map user relies on his/her imagination to inter­
pret the chosen map, to see what they actually believe they are seeing.
(Akerman 2007). Maps are not objective representations of the world:
it is not territory they represent (Cosgrove 1999). Maps are what people
want the world to be like. Maps help to shape our imagination about
the space we live in and this is intertwined with self-identity. By look­
ing at a map before making a trip to an unfamiliar place, we acquire an
image that familiarizes us in advance. We know the names of the

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victoria höög maps of the world

streets, the blocks, the metro lines etc. Google Earth has facilitated the
acquisition of knowledge of places before we visit them; we can fly to
places in our imagination and inform ourselves about a hotel’s loca­
tion, and look at the rooms by a virtual tour.

maps as depicters of imagined global and

local spaces
A traditional function of maps is to serve as a creator of new spaces, by
visualizing the unknown. Google Earth is certainly a new tool, but it ex­
pands and improves a well-known function of maps. For kings and em­
perors, the depicted space was an emblem of power, prestige and cos­
mopolitanism. One spectacular example is the Miller Atlas (ca. 1519). It
gave a bird’s eye view of the grandeur of the Portuguese Empire, with its
commercial trading ports in Malaysia in the Far East, and Mogadishu
on the East African coast. The atlas had splendid illustrations of Portug­
uese castle constructions and Portuguese ships all over the world seas,
i.e. pictures that defined the superiority of Portugal. An atlas produced
by a skilled artist engaged a spectator’s imagination; it made the empi­
re visually and physically within grasp. This was achieved by the distinct
outlines and artistic quality, without any presumed scientific ambition.
It created a symbolic space that facilitated the imaginative power of
what it meant to be Portuguese in the sixteenth century. When Louis
XIV commissioned the Venetian spherographer, Vincenzo Coronelli, to
produce the biggest and most impressive globes ever made – situated
in Marly but intended for the Mirror Gallery in Versailles 1683 – the
King expressed his power as the ruler not only of France, but also as a
global emperor. The two globes each measured about 4 meters (13 feet)
in diameter. To the observer, the globes represented the King’s ambi­
tions. The huge scale was intended to encourage belief in the king’s su­
preme power. A pure imaginative world in one moment could be the
factual world in the future.
If the above atlas genre reflected the views of empires, the maps of
the English gentry represented a more individualized mapping of the

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local world where personal land holdings, including a picture of the re­
sidence, were mapped. These individualized maps appeared during the
19th century and became quickly popular in gentry circles. Anything the
owner wanted could be placed on his personal map, as long as he paid
for it (Dillon 2007). Such maps were often framed and hung centrally in
the entrance hall of a residence, and informed visitors about the
owner’s distinguished position and personal achievements. For the
owner, it was a symbol confirming the self-identity supported by the
selected image. Another notable aspect is that the personal story and
the country’s history were fused in the depicted imaginative, rather
than the realistic landscape. The culture and history of the local land­
scape became closely intertwined with the private property owner’s life
story.
When maps were used to illustrate the expanding scientific field of
statistics related to morality at the end of the 19th century, the areas
with high criminal rates were colored black and safe areas appeared in
light colors. André Michel Guerry (1802–66) was a pioneer in making
comprehensive map overviews of the moral state of France in the 1860s
(Illustration: Crimes contres les personnnes, 1864). His moral maps il­
luminate an important phenomenon, the maps are not cartes blan­
ches, they structure the world and create new perceptive space for us.
(Eco 1979). If areas with high rates of crime had been colored white, the
usual cultural association between dark colors and miserable lives
would have been blurred, and hence caused confusion.
The 19th century represented the peak of innovative, user-friendly illus­
trations in the field of science. The illustrative technique adhered to the
style of popular illustrations by complementing graphic innovations
with visual forms used in newspapers and weekly magazines (Friendly
& Denis 2006). The expansion of the natural and social sciences in the
next century promoted more abstract formal illustrative modes that
underlined the scientist as an expert, with knowledge inaccessible by
the educated general public.

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victoria höög maps of the world

maps in the mass consumption era

The next century, the 20th century, was the era of mass consumption
and improved living standards in the West. Maps became widespread
and integrated parts of the changed living patterns. When the newspa­
per reader opened the daily paper, the weather forecast was presented
as a map. The US army positions in the First World War were also illus­
trated on maps.
In the 1920s, the privately owned car replaced the train for leisure
travel on the North American continent. A new genre of road maps de­
veloped that contributed to the formation of a national car-based tour­
ist industry (Dillon 2007). The producer of the maps could be a gasoline
company, or the American Automobile Association, the Triple A,
founded in 1902. From the user’s point of view, the new road maps
contributed to an updated self-image. The car tourist was in tune
with modern dynamic times. The car represented material status,
help­ing to upgrade social standing, especially of men as successful
breadwinners.
A civic sense was also fused into the new tourism industry. The car
tourists did not only enjoy themselves as private travel consumers, they
performed a patriotic duty by traveling around and discovering the
homeland. These maps relied on the cartographic aura of scientific
objectivity and usefulness. They were accurate in depicting the road
net and correct distances. In contrast to the English gentry maps of
the 19th century, these maps were part of the new mass consumer socie­
ty. The maps were printed in copious editions, lacked any personal de­
sign and were cheaply available at gas stations.
The mass consumption maps cultivated a geographic and visual liter­
acy that contributed to the formation of new social identities by lend­
ing themselves to the viewer’s imagination. The map’s function was to
help travelers prepare for trips. The viewer used the maps to situate the
trip into the landscape, imagining how long the drive would take, where
to stop for gas, food and an overnight rest. Also, the final destination
could be imagined. A drive into a national park or unknown urban area

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Hotan Buddhist universe map, 1654–1738. Japanese Historical Maps, Regents of the
University of California.

was facilitated, not only by looking at the road system, but also by envis­
ioning the future location. The envisioning was promoted by the eye-
catching graphics (Dillon 2007). One way of doing this was to locate
three-dimensional images on a flat paper surface, such as buildings or
people. This added a physical dimension that linked the map with the
user’s imagination.
Scientific maps from the first half of the 20th century and tourist
maps represented two different genres. Tourist maps were similar to
traditional maps as a category of distinctive artwork, while the scienti­
fic map acquired a more abstract, statistical look (Friendly 2006). How­

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victoria höög maps of the world

ever, I would claim that the scientific map and tourist map shared a
common dependence on human perception. In both cases, the maps
were open and accessible to our projected imagination to merge with
our identities, as professional scientists or holiday planners.

maps in the 21th century

Since the early modern period, world maps as well as local maps, had
relied on a cartographic tradition that combined the instructive task
and the viewer’s ambition to orient himself/herself visually in the cho­
sen space, be it for a pilgrimage, or holiday trip. In the case of old histori­
cal maps, this feature is strikingly apparent; towns, seas, coastlines, and
roads are represented pictorially. The cartographer’s artistic skills were
the means of providing this visual pleasure. However, a component of
this pleasure was the presence or evidence of human existence. The
non-scientific maps depended on the observer’s intention, which relied
on identification symbols. An exception was pure graphical maps, for
example, metro maps.
The famous view of the earth from Apollo 17 in 1972 lacked any evid­
ence of human presence. The globe was pure nature, void of any anthropo­
centric view. It conveyed a feeling that has procreated religions, under-
lining that man is a late arrival, a diminutive visitor in universe. Yet, in a
benevolent interpretation, old religious maps had the intention of com-
municating to the observer the religious doctrinal worldview. The fa-
mous Hotan Buddhist universe map, which could be seen on the oppo-
site page, Nansenbushu Bankoku Shoka made about 1710, is void of
man’s presence, but tells the informed observer that the known universe
is only one among millions of others. The depicted religious universes
have infinite space for man’s soul. The contrast to the cosmographic
mode of the Apollo earth picture is striking; it is without God and does
not invite man’s presence.
With the Internet, the naturalized picture of the globe has regained
the anthropocentric perspective from pre-modern world maps. Google
Earth stands for this striking feature of 21st century map development.

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The screen opens with a view of the globe, produced by naturalistic

satellite photos. But within a few seconds, a man-made cultural world
of landscapes, cities, roads and houses come into sight. We follow up
by zooming in, focusing and selecting our personal design.
The latest development allows another human dream to come true,
namely time traveling. Historical maps can be exactly covered over by a
visual image from a Google Earth map. For archeologists, historians,
and cultural geographers this option opens up areas of new knowledge.
Science fiction has to cede space for a new genre where past and pre­
sent merge with minute and delicate accuracy. A well-known function
of the maps is to help the user to perceive the places visually, in advance.
Now, the latest digitalization stage makes inverted time traveling easy.
We travel from the present into the past or from the past into the pres­
ent, depending on our purpose.
What should we say about this mix of historical and current maps?
What kind of visual imagination will this promote for the users? Will
reality and history be another fictional digitalized game that helps to
form our identity, as online games might do (Castranova 2005)? We can
all agree that digitalized services have encouraged people to use maps
more often and expanded cartographic literacy, but what this means
for our world view is a wide open question.

conclusion
The French philosopher, August Comte (1798–1857), the founder of
positivism insisted that, from the very beginning, human existence has
had a universal drive to search for knowledge. A human characteristic
is to search for meaning and understanding in given conditions. At the
first, pre-scientific stage, thinking is characterized by an urge for a com­
prehensive understanding of existence, more than a search for the essen­
tial truth. In this first stage, the world is viewed by anthropomorphous
measures. Organic nature is supposed to have souls, even if this is of a
magical kind that makes communication logically possible by the help
of special rituals.

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victoria höög maps of the world

Comte’s philosophy can be used as an interpretative framework for

the universal existence of maps: they are tools to create comprehension
and connections in life, between past, present and the imagined un­
known. Another well known aspect of Comte’s philosophy also seems
to apply to maps, namely that human understanding of the world moves
towards a more abstract scientific way of interpreting the world. The
anthropomorphic stage is succeeded by the metaphysical approach to
the world. Lastly, according to Comte, metaphysics too is overcome, and
the highest stage is achieved, namely the scientific approach to reality.
Following the expansion of the sciences in the 17th century, Western
maps changed in appearance. The naturalistic artistic painting genre
was superseded by abstract graphics. Hence, a shift in genre occurred.
Until the seventeenth century, maps in Europe were anthropomorph­
ous, depicting the natural and the cultural world from the human point
of view.
Nonetheless, Comte was wrong in one central aspect: the scientific
stage has not proved to be the last supreme stage of human knowledge
for interpreting and understanding the world. The modern digitalized
maps coincide with non-modern maps in their human scale. One can
easily move oneself into the imagined space in advance as a layman.
No professional scientific qualities are needed to use the available in­
formation. When we enter a building, we look for a map for an over­
view. A museum exhibition has maps available for visitors, as do bus
companies for passengers. Such maps are, primarily, produced to faci­
litate a quick orientation of a new or unknown space. For a long time,
such maps have relied on a graphically inspired tradition dating back
to the London Underground map, which is instructive but has no
natural­istic ambitions. The obvious purpose is to find the required de­
stination, and eliminate any unnecessary embellishments.
Digitalization offers museums a new, user-friendly option: it com­
plements the graphic, traditional visitor’s map by recommending the
visitor a virtual tour. We enter the virtual room. Borders are blurred
between real and virtual experience. Both aspects are mind-depend­

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ent realities, no experience less real than the other (Thomasson 2001).
The scientific period from the later 19th century and onwards, upholds
an image of maps as definitive true representations of the chosen sub­
ject. In current times, the non-modern and the post-modern mapping
of the world coincide in a virtual map world that easily allows a perso­
nal design to be applied on the available standard map. One prerequi­
site behind this development is the public availability of scientific
data, for example, when NASA satellite images fuse with commercial
interests, as in Google Earth. If the earlier periods produced a scienti­
fic era with truth telling as the primary scholarly task, the digitalized
life world may tempt us to supersede truth seeking with amusing per­
sonal experience. Our imagination can more easily than ever be app­
lied to the public map. A personal map for every new life event is a
quite, easy piece of work to achieve. These maps may be our new photo
albums, a memory book of the family history. The maps may also be
the science archives of the future, with illustrations mattering more
than the body of text. The history of maps keeps on being a good story-
teller of the history and development of society.

Note
1
I would like to thank Hisayuki Ishimatsu, Head of the Japanese Collection at UC Berke-
ley. I am profoundly indebted to him for sharing his knowledge and friendship. As a con-
stant source of inspiration and encouragement over the years, my thanks also go to Wahé
H. Balekjian, Professor in Jurisprudence, at Glasgow University and Vienna University.

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