HOW HAVE MAPS REFLECTED THE IMPERALIST NATURE OF EUROPE DURING THE AGE OF EXPLORATION?

Olivia Jin (OHS)

Maps are not a politically neutral representation of the world. In fact, maps are a useful resource for historical analysis because of their partial nature; the cultural, social and political connotations of many cartographic items in history have been largely influenced by their creators, much like any other historical source. A particular period of history where the usage of maps suddenly gained importance was the age of exploration, or the era of old imperialism, when they were primarily created for geographically locating newly founded settlements and tracking emerging trade routes for their founders to exploit – who were largely European countries at the time, a famous example being the Portuguese led by explorer Christopher Columbus. The era of old imperialism lasted from the 16th to early 19th century and is also informally referred to as the Age of Exploration. Maps have been a pivotal influence on imperialism, which was particularly strong during this period, as reflected by the sudden increase in colonialist activity amongst European powers. The spatial representation of newly explored areas recorded by their founders gives an insight into the imperialist nature of much of Western European society, where countries invested in foreign exploration were highly motivated by the notion of ‘Glory, God and Gold,’ and a need to have superiority over other countries. Mapmaking became a powerful tool to stake out sovereignty and legitimise power, providing further motivation for countries to conquer new territories, and reinforcing the imperialist mindset that led to foreign conquest. Cartography was particularly influential in the early colonial period, where many discovered territories were unfamiliar, thus mapping these lands granted feasibility to imperial conquest. In particular, the imperialist mindset that had gripped European countries could be partly contributed by the boom of mapmaking and type printing that had been invented in the late 15th century. Maps were produced rapidly and on a larger scale, thus information was made more readily accessible and consequently, maps were not only distributed among the elite, but to a much broader audience, and thus news of newly conquered lands quickly spread across Europe. Maps were used not only by officers stationed abroad, but also domestically, and were consumed for decorative, scholarly or political purposes, shaping the internal view of a country’s empire in relation to a rival empire, and hence had just as much influence over regular citizens as the leaders of colonisation. The race to conquer new lands and rapidly expand empires gave rise to maps that were created to marginalise other rival empires with territory in areas of colonial interest, such as North America, which experienced multiple empires establishing settlements and having conflict with one another over territorial boundaries. Such empires mostly involved the Spanish, French and British nations. Because these empires rivalled one another, the maps each produced to depict their perception of territory in the new world were subject to favouritism towards their own claimed lands, to assert imperial dominance over other empires. For example, In the context of the Seven Years War (fought between the British and the French over territorial disputes in North America), the British commissioned John Mitchell to create a map of British and French provinces in N. America. Mitchell, being pro-Britain, produced a map which reinforced British claims of territory within America, despite the lack of conclusive boundaries of each empire’s new settlements. The bias within cartographic records of new territory alludes to the competition relating to colonial territory between sovereign nations. Colonial maps clearly outlined the capitalist and hence imperialist might of European colonists. The trade routes established by colonial powers, i.e. Britain, could only be fully navigated and utilised by traders if they were properly mapped out, hence successful trade relied on cartography. In the ages of both old and new Imperialism, the colonisation of other countries was largely to facilitate trade and provide capitalist gains or advantages for colonial powers, hence mapmaking was highly motivated by imperial benefit. Cartographers of the time were commissioned by European colonisers, who had vested interest in controlling the land, people and resources of newly discovered countries. Once a settlement was established, maps giving greater detail of the area tended to partition areas which previously had not been divided with formal barriers, nevertheless one indicated by a line on paper. This was particularly prevalent in cartographic representations of African colonies and India during the later eras of imperialism, where mapmakers detailed areas of likely colonisation and settlement. The evolution of British maps of India from the 17th to 18th centuries illustrates changes in colonialist motivation, from trade and commerce to greater political control and governance over foreign land. Maps of India during the 17th century largely focused on coastlines and internal rivers, which emphasises the initial traderelated motivations of British settlers. However, as the British gradually claimed areas of Indian territory in the 18th century, maps shifted to depict political and geographical regions of the internal land in greater detail, necessary for further developing the settlement

in future. The attempts of domination and control over native people are typically imperialist, dominating the country in order to colonise new lands for imperial benefit, and demonstrate the political and capitalist motivations settlers had increasingly acquired. Thus, the developments in cartographic representations of colonised land clearly reflect the progressively imperialistic goals European settlers had adopted. The colonial maps of the imperial past, not only limited to Europe, can be seen as a pretext to the politics surrounding the consequences of globalisation today, which had first emerged after Columbus discovered the new world. Thereafter maps quickly became mechanisms of political propaganda used by Sovereign states to sustain their power and eminence. In relation to the present, current topical border and territorial disputes mirror the past conflict between major empires that had erupted over borderlines drawn on a map. The imperialism that had shaped cartographic artefacts in the age of exploration may have established a basis for border conflict today; these could be seen as fuelled by imperialist beliefs that were encouraged by borders created on a map, serving as a symbol of superiority and hailing back to Europe’s imperial past.

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