Imperial maps

Abstract

As visual representations of terrestrial and maritime space, maps provide invaluable insights into contemporary knowledge of terrain, territory and ethnography. This chapter explores the ways in which cartography is a particularly rich source for historians of imperial Russia, by discussing how, beyond visualizing resources, places, natural features and so forth, maps have the capacity to contribute to our understanding of some of the critical social and political issues that span Russia’s imperial history. As sources that fuse science, geographic and ethnographic knowledge, maps can also be read as inscriptions of power, sovereignty, identity and resistance, and even of social attitudes towards contemporary events.This contribution charts the evolution of map-making in the Russian empire from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century. It discusses cartography both as a military and a social endeavour, and as a productive source of information on imperial expansion, urbanisation, ethnographic knowledge, and shifting ideas of rulership and of imperial, national and local territorial identity. Conceptualising the map as a means of representation and communication, the chapter discusses state and non-state map makers, audiences, and the need to place cartography in a broader historical context. It also discusses issues surrounding locating and accessing material in archives and libraries, and how cartography might be better contextually integrated with other source genres in order to fully realise the map’s potential as a historical source.