Maps and History - Constructing Images of the Past by Jeremy Black Yale 242pp, £20 in UK
Historians should defer to geography, particularly to historical atlases, argues Jeremy Black. "Geography was and is more than a background or backdrop to historical events and processes," he writes in the preface to this detailed and business-like survey of the history of mapping. Black's ambitious thesis is based more on the development of historical atlases than on straightforward mapping techniques. Yet he does examine the history of cartography, as well as the diversity of its present-day role.
Map-making is an art which has evolved into a science. Medieval maps rival the beauty of manuscripts and were often as lavishly decorated. Black's first, whistlestop chapter assesses the earliest developments up to 1800. He writes of Aboriginal mapping, and of the making and use of maps in ancient China - the earliest dates from about 2100 BC and appears on the outer side of a ding, or cooking vessel; another map produced in 323-15 BC depicts a graveyard and was discovered in a tomb in 1977. He then shifts his attention to Europe, where he concentrates particularly on the pre-history of the historical atlas in Europe. The first known historical atlas is the Parergon of Abraham Ortelius. Published in Antwerp in 1579, it followed his earlier work, a mapbook from 1570, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theatre of the World).
Throughout the book, the reader is conscious of the inevitable tensions of Black's approach, which is at once thematic and chronological. Early rivals for the attentions of map-makers were the classical world and the Bible. The mapping of Biblical themes received a new impetus during the Reformation; indeed, the history of Bible mapping is part of the history of the Reformation. Religious uses of maps continued to be important. In 1535, the first map printed in England was an illustration for the Book of Exodus. In 1650, an English Royalist, Thomas Fuller, published his atlas of the Holy Land.
A major factor in the development of map-making was the invention of printing - maps were first printed in Europe in the 1470s. Printing meant they could be more speedily produced, and map-makers had more and more recent maps to consult when making their own.
By the end of the 16th century, maps were being used to settle disputes, and estate maps often replaced written surveys. Black stresses how improvements in the mapping of the contemporary world were vital in creating far more accurate historical maps. Three major developments in 17thand 18th-century Europe revolutionised map-making. First, there was the introduction of administrative maps; second, the growing importance of large-scale military surveys; third, the invention by Englishman John Harrison of a chronometer to assist the measuring of longitude.
Black, a history professor, is no stylist; he writes like a court reporter giving evidence. But such is the range of information in his book that the reader will race through it, and keep it as a valuable reference text. Above all, this is an international study. Black is meticulous and thorough, and the scale of his book compensates for his prose style. It is a pity that central figures in cartographical history such as Edward Wells, Hermann Moll, Johan Matthias Hase (or Haas), Christian Kruse, Karl Spruner, Reginald Land Poole and Charles Paullin are little more than footnotes. Maps and History lacks the imaginative and human touch so evident in John Andrews's superb Shapes of Ireland - Maps and Their Makers 1564-1839 (Geography Publications, £30). If Black had possessed Andrews's flair, an undoubtedly important book would be a great one.
However, Black's expertise is impressive. "Our geography is in fact the history of the land," wrote Charles Pearson in 1869, and in 1903 Emil Reich announced: "History is largely the make of geography." According to Black, the recognition of the centrality to human affairs of environmental change was fortunate for geographers because it "emphasised their importance"; it also made them better interpreters of the past than historians, and allows them to be accurate forecasters of future trends.
The role played by war in the development of cartography is major, as were the demands of nationalism. In this context maps were put to ideological, and ultimately propagandist, uses. Black discusses Nazi cartography, and the blatantly racist tendencies in population maps, such as the editing out of the native American in favour of the European American. European map-makers dominate much of the narrative, but Black is well informed also on US map-making, particularly in the interwar period. The mapping of America was a complex undertaking; whereas most European historical atlases concentrated on international relations, on the spread of empire, and the effects of warfare, in the US, domestic history was more important. In this regard, Black emphasises the significance of Paullin's monumental Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States (1932). Black considers the development of scientific and computer technology and advances such as the use of the optional conformal technique. He is aware of technological developments, and discusses several ongoing projects such as the Atlas of the European Towns (1968), which includes The Irish Historic Towns Atlas.
This is a practical, direct, informed but not dogmatic surveystudy, the content of which is sufficiently fascinating to compensate for the author's leaden prose.