Yet the maps themselves remain beautiful to look at. Espinosa's approach reflects Spain's view of maps as intellectual property to be hoarded, establishing land ownership by controlling the knowledge of where places were located.Īside from the solecism of "mapping publicly," the underlying point is questionable in itself: Spain had already relinquished control of America's northwest coast to England in 1790, and Vancouver's map of 1798 was obviously superior in every way to Espinosa's edition of four years later-so the contrasting strategies of disseminating or hoarding knowledge has no relevance to either the control of the area depicted or the date of publication of either map. Vancouver's maps show the English obsession with taking and claiming land by mapping publicly its every detail-they almost saw maps as deeds. In the caption to the Spanish map we read: In the text Rumsey describes the controversy concerning who had the rights to America's northwest coast. For example, on one two-page spread) we're given the opportunity to compare two maps of the Vancouver area, one published by George Vancouver himself in 1798, and the other by the Spaniard Espinosa y Tello in 1802. Rumsey's interest lies primarily in the beauty and historical preciousness of individual maps, the development of lithographic techniques, the changing role of maps in "taking control" of a landscape, and the fascinating archaisms that old maps almost invariably contain.Įven in this regard we might occasionally wish for more astuteness than Rumsey provides. While there are things to be learned on every page of the book about the relations between the development of cities, nations, and continents and the drawing of maps, Rumsey has made no attempt to chart the development of map-making techniques into the digital age-only two maps in the book were created more recently than 1922-and we learn little about the impact of satellites on mapping techniques, dramatic though they have been. To judge from the text of Cartographica Extraordinaire, Rumsey's appreciation of maps owes more to his feel for art than his grasp of history. Punt offer us a brief overview of the development of maps, and the continuing role they play in the modern world of geographic information systems (GIS). Along the way, Rumsey and co-author Edith M. Cartographica Extraordinaire, a handsome volume almost fourteen inches square, provides a glimpse into the many treasures of the Rumsey Library for those of us who lack the time or the wherewithal to view these colorful and intriguing documents online, or to print them out on the scale they deserve. Eager to share his collections with others, Rumsey explored, and occasionally pioneered, the technology required to digitalize his maps and display them on the web for collectors, historians, and students of cartography. SFU Library recommends that you review the privacy policies of these and other external websites before using the services.David Rumsey-not the sort to balk at career change-earned two degrees in Art History from Yale, fell into a small fortune buying and selling real estate in the San Francisco area, and went on to develop one of the most extensive collections of antique maps in the world. Canadian privacy laws do not apply to personal information you provide directly to these external websites. When you use these services, no personal information about you is collected by or for the University. Please be advised that the personal information you disclose to these and other external websites may be stored on servers located outside of Canada. Personal Privacy: Some licensed resources allow you to create a personal account for the purposes of creating folders, saving searches, and downloading entire e-books as well as other personalized services. Systematically downloading, distributing, or retaining substantial portions of information may result in loss of access to these resources for the entire SFU community. #CARTOGRAPHICA LICENSE#It is the responsibility of each user to abide by the license agreements and specific terms and conditions for each product. Terms of use: Electronic resources are governed by license agreements which restrict access to Authorized Users.
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