{"id":1787849,"date":"2019-10-01T12:11:38","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T16:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1787849"},"modified":"2020-04-11T10:48:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T14:48:25","slug":"cartography-the-ideal-and-its-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/10\/cartography-the-ideal-and-its-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Cartography: The Ideal and Its History"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cartography
Amazon<\/a>
Apple Books<\/a>
Bookshop<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Matthew H. Edney\u2019s Cartography: The Ideal and Its History<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (University of Chicago Press<\/a>, April) is a full-throated jeremiad against the concept of cartography itself\u2014the ideal<\/em> of cartography, which after 237 densely argued pages Edney says \u201cis quite simply indefensible.\u201d Or as the subtitle to the first chapter states: \u201cThere is no such thing as cartography, and this is a book about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the surface this is a startling argument to make, particularly for Edney, who holds two roles that are very much about cartography and its history: he\u2019s the Osher Professor in the History of Cartography<\/a> at the University of Southern Maine (where, among other things, he\u2019s affiliated with the Osher Map Library) and the current director of the History of Cartography Project<\/a>. With this book, Edney is essentially undermining the foundations of his own profession.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He does so systematically. Cartography, he argues, isn\u2019t a discrete process: there are many different mapping traditions that don\u2019t necessarily have very much to do with one another (a fantasy mapmaker doesn\u2019t have much in common with someone working on the Google Maps database, for example); \u201ccartography\u201d forcibly gathers these dissimilar maps together under a normative ideal.<\/p>\n

That ideal, Edney says, has a history: it developed after about 1800, and as such is a relatively recent invention; but it\u2019s been applied retroactively to all the mapmaking that went on before that date. That ideal was in the service of a certain kind of mapmaking product born out of the systemic mapmaking surveys of the 18th and 19th centuries. Cartography-the-ideal is public, altruistic, unbiased and empiricist: Cartography\u2019s end product is The Map, a Platonic ideal of universality and accuracy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s teleological, full of assumptions about progress and expertise\u2014and in Edney\u2019s view, completely wrong. It diminishes what we can say about maps except in terms of how accurate they are; and by prioritizing scale as a universal component of all maps (for example) it eliminates maps that don\u2019t conform to the cartographic ideal (such as the Beck diagram) and runs into problems with map projections.<\/p>\n

Most problematically, I think, it perpetrates the notion that maps tell the unmediated truth\u2014a notion that has become deeply embedded in popular culture. Why else would the Piri Reis map\u2019s bend in the coast of South America be taken as evidence of an ice-free Antarctica instead of what it almost certainly was: a hack done because the chartmaker was running out of parchment. (See previous entry: The Piri Reis Map of 1513<\/a>.) Or even that the presence of \u201cHere Be Dragons\u201d on a map could be proof of the historical existence of dragons<\/a>. The idea that maps cannot be wrong<\/em> is a product of Cartography-as-ideal.<\/p>\n

Cartography<\/em> is a thought-provoking book, but it\u2019s not for the casual reader. It\u2019s not remotely an introductory text. Understanding its arguments requires prior knowledge. This is a text for college students, for academics, for anyone who has been thinking about cartography in an academic or theoretical sense. But for that audience, Cartography<\/em> may well be an essential, even formative text. It\u2019s an important book\u2014but it\u2019s not for everyone.<\/p>\n

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.<\/p>\n

Previously: Reviews of Edney\u2019s Cartography<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>Cartography: The Ideal and Its History<\/em><\/strong><\/a>
\nby Matthew H. Edney
\nUniversity of Chicago Press<\/a>, April 2019
\nAmazon<\/a> | Apple Books<\/a>\u00a0| Bookshop<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew H. Edney\u2019s Cartography: The Ideal and Its History (University of Chicago Press, April) is a full-throated jeremiad against the concept of cartography itself\u2014the ideal of cartography, which after 237 densely argued pages Edney says… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,29],"tags":[30,312],"class_list":["post-1787849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-cartography","tag-books","tag-history-of-cartography"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1786350,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/10\/the-limits-to-mapping\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787849,"position":0},"title":"The Limits to Mapping","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"4 October 2018","format":"video","excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/r46RVWJ_nMA \"The Limits to Mapping,\" a talk Matthew Edney gave at Yale University last week as part of the Franke Program series of lectures, is now available on YouTube. Edney, who's Osher Professor in the History of Cartography at the University of Southern Maine and the director of the History\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/edney-cartography-ideal-history-105x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1788268,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/cartograph-history-of-a-back-formation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787849,"position":1},"title":"‘Cartograph’: History of a Back Formation","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 January 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Inspired by its appearance in a recent science fiction novel,\u00a0Matthew Edney explores the history of the odd word \u201ccartograph\u201d\u2014a back formation of \u201ccartography\u201d whose existence suggests circumstances in which \u201cmap\u201d is somehow insufficient. Edney traces three kinds of uses of the term: one referring to an early 20th-century instrument; one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787640,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/08\/reviews-of-edneys-cartography\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787849,"position":2},"title":"Reviews of Edney’s Cartography","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 August 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"Matthew Edney\u2019s Cartography: The Ideal and Its History was published by the University of Chicago Press last April. I have a review copy and a review is in the works. While you\u2019re waiting for me to get said review written, here are a couple of reviews to tide you over:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/edney-cartography-ideal-history-210x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1788721,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/04\/the-history-of-cartographys-fourth-volume-now-almost-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787849,"position":3},"title":"The History of Cartography\u2019s Fourth Volume, Now (Almost) Out","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"14 April 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"I believe that today is (nominally) the publication date of the fourth volume in the History of Cartography Project: The History of Cartography, Volume 4: Cartography in the European Enlightenment. As with other volumes of the project, it\u2019s a massive piece of work: two physical volumes and nearly two thousand\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The History of Cartography, Vol. 4","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/history-of-cartography-vol4-300x294.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1795726,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/11\/forty-years-of-the-history-of-cartography-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787849,"position":4},"title":"Forty Years of the History of Cartography Project","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"4 November 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"This article from the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison takes a look back at the 40-year history of the History of Cartography Project, which, with the forthcoming publication of its final volume, is actually coming to a close in the near future. Includes quotes from current director Matthew Edney, who first came\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1788711,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/04\/star-maps-history-artistry-and-cartography\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787849,"position":5},"title":"Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"14 April 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"The March 2020 issue (PDF) of Calafia, the journal of the California Map Society, has as its theme the mapping of space. It also has something from me in it: my review of the third edition of Nick Kanas\u2019s Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography. An excerpt: It\u2019s important to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1787849"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1788710,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787849\/revisions\/1788710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1787849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1787849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1787849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}