Jiří DROZDA, Šárka STEINOVÁ, Filip PAULUS

(Un)forgotten maps

Drozda, J., Steinová, Š., Paulus, F.: (Un)forgotten maps. Kartografické listy, 2017, 25 (1).

Abstract: So far, the professional and public research focused on the large map units, especially the military mapping. But there are many map units offer much wider application than what was mentioned. It's not just about the only cartographic work but researchers must understand the content and purpose of the map first and then they are able to understand map in context. At the beginning of the 19th century, war losses have shown that victory not only decides on the number of soldiers and military tactics, but for the battle success is important movement of troops and war materials. For this reason, production of road maps that show the communication in large detail was started. There was not so important accuracy of the map, but the representation of the shape and the distance of each road section and describing of the surrounding infrastructure. The development of Prague as urban agglomerations in the mid-18th century increased the demand for quick and cheap supply of goods and building materials. Due to detailed mapping of the Vltava water flow started. Map of the Vltava River has been finished in 1776 and was used almost until the end of 19th century, when due to the promotion of rail transport almost stopped shipping merchandise. One of the most common reasons for the maps production was legal – property controversy. In particular, it was the ownership of the (border) estates, forests or even individual parcels and resolve disputes. Map of the Czech-Bavaria border in the vicinity of the village Kubička (currently defunct commune) from the year 1768 shows a very common problem of borders through the watercourses and the complexity of the solution that continues to the present.

Keywords: historical maps, roads maps, border maps, river maps, map archives