Creating a digital historical map of the German-inhabited areas in southern Transylvania (central Romania) in 1848

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper describes the creation of a historical reference map of the mid-southern region of Transylvania (nowadays in central Romania) in 1848. This area was shaped by the presence of the Transylvanian Saxons, the ethnic German descendants of the settlers invited here by the kings of Hungary during the High Middle Ages. Transylvania became part of the Habsburg Empire at the end of the seventeenth century and was elevated to the status of a Grand Principality in 1765. The map is primarily based on historical cartographic documents and written publications, but also integrates digital geo-spatial datasets. It was produced at a scale of 1:400 000 and includes the hydrography, the administrative boundaries, the main roads, the postal stations and all the settlements attested in the Transylvanian Saxon administrative subdivisions before the mid-nineteenth century.