Welcome

The ICA Commission on the History of Cartography, the ICA Commission on Topographic Mapping and the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford are happy to invite you to their joint international symposium ‘Mapping Empires – Colonial Cartographies of Land and Sea’. This is already the 7th event in a series of two-yearly symposia on the History of Cartography, this time taking place from Thursday 13 September till Saturday 15 September 2018 in the Bodleian’s Weston Library in the heart of Oxford (UK). To explore the city, its surroundings and its cartographic heritage, optional technical and social tours are planned.

The organizers invite contributions (papers and posters) investigating the cartography of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas as influenced by cosmopolitan exploration and imperialistic activity during, but not limited to, the ‘long nineteenth century’ (mid-18th to mid-20th centuries). The rise of European hegemony coincided with a scientific turn that underpinned the evolution of topographic mapping and hydrographic charting, and  led to the emergence of thematic mapping. These colonial cartographies brought forth a rich legacy of mapping that continues to influence the aesthetics and authority of mapmaking today.


 

Source banner image: David Rumsey Map Collection website