The “Golden Age” of cartography: what do we owe it?

DOI: 10.35595/2414-9179-2025-3-31-656-671

View or download the article (Rus)

About the Author

Anatoliy E. Yartsev

Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography,
4, Gorokhovsky ln., Moscow, 105064, Russia,
E-mail: iartsiev@mail.ru

Abstract

The article presents the cultural aspect of cartography and its place in the system of types of cognition. The main volume of the paper is devoted to the historical analysis of the development of European cartography in the period of XIV–XVII centuries, the period most rich in changes in cartography and cognitive culture. It is based on a representative period—the “Golden Age” of cartography—the time of its highest prosperity, maturity, which gave the world the greatest number of achievements and reveals the full evolution of cartography and the processes of its development. The research goes through the history of Renaissance Western and Central Europe, in the during and borders of which the “Golden Age” took place, and it is built around the review of famous cartographic works that became important milestones in the history of cartography. These examples are used to analyze the development of cartography with a focus on human cognitive activity. The connection between cartography and cognition is not well covered and disclosed in publications, although it is necessary for a most complete picture of evolution of cartography as a prospect for its further development. The conclusions form a view of cartography “in itself”, analyze its position in social activity and express an opinion on its potential. The novelty of the work is reflected in the meta-cartographic aspect of the research of evolution, which has not been encountered before in conventional interpretations. In this article, they are also taken into account and linked together through the cultural field. The work consists of reflections with a simultaneous analysis of cultural phenomena and cartography in a homogeneous cultural field, followed by differentiation and synthesis within cartographic activity.

Keywords

cartography, cognition, culture, development, Renaissance

References

  1. Afanasyev T.Yu. Cognition and its Classification in Types and Kinds in Contemporary Gnoseology (Theory of Knowledge): Toward a Complete Typology. Part 1. Modern Science. Philosophical Sciences, 2012. P. 35–40 (in Russian).
  2. Bagrow L. History of Cartography. Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf, 2021. 319 p. (in Russian).
  3. Bauer S.W. The History of the Renaissance World. From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople. Moscow: AST, 2018. 960 p. (in Russian).
  4. Brown L.A. The Story of Maps. Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf, 2006. 279 p. (in Russian).
  5. Chekin L.S. Cartography of the Christian Middle Ages of VIII–XIII Centuries. Moscow: “East Literature” of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1999. 365 p. (in Russian).
  6. Chernyakova N.S. Trivial and Mythological Cognitions as Forms of Practical and Spiritual Mastering of the World. Manuscript. Philosophical Sciences, 2016. P. 205–207 (in Russian).
  7. Cosgrove D.E. Images of Renaissance Cosmography, 1450–1650. History of Cartography, V. 3: Cartography in the European Renaissance, 2007. P. 55–98.
  8. Flier A.Ya. Cognition Culture Historical Development. Culture and Arts Herald, 2014. P. 31–40. (in Russian).
  9. Koenigsberger G.G. Early Modern Europe, 1500–1789. Moscow: Ves Mir (The Whole World), 2006. 320 p. (in Russian).
  10. Milskaya L.T., Rutenburg V.I., Vedyushkin V.A. History of Europe. V. 3. From the Middle Ages to the New Time (The End of the XV–the First Half of the XVII Century). Moscow: Nauka, 1993. 656 p. (in Russian).
  11. Nurminen M.T. The Mapmakers’ World. A Cultural History of the European World Map. Moscow: Paulsen, 2017. 352 p. (in Russian).
  12. Woodward D. Cartography and the Renaissance: Continuity and Change. History of Cartography, V. 3: Cartography in the European Renaissance, 2007. P. 3–24.

For citation: Yartsev A.E. The “Golden Age” of cartography: what do we owe it?. InterCarto. InterGIS. Moscow: MSU, Faculty of Geography, 2025. V. 31. Part 3. P. 656–671. DOI: 10.35595/2414-9179-2025-3-31-656-671 (in Russian)