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Abstract
River ferries were historically important in crossing medium- and large-sized watercourses, with rivers often a barrier to trade routes and journeys. Using old medium-scale Austrian military topographic maps from 1763–1768, 1836–1852, and 1876–1880, Prussian maps from 1825 and 1877, and Czechoslovakian maps from 1953–1955, we systematically localized the ferries within what is now the Czech Republic over a monitoring period between the mid-18th century and the present. We also analyzed the map keys of relevant surveys to examine ways of depicting the ferries in the maps. In this context, a database of river ferries in the Czech Republic was prepared in GIS, containing all localities where river crossing ferries were shown on the topographic maps. A total of 514 historical ferry sites were identified on the military mapping survey maps, with an additional 28 recognized from auxiliary sources that did not appear in the military topographic maps. The sample information obtained from the maps was also verified by using independent sources.
Highlights
Large rivers embody a natural landscape barrier, one that has always been significant to mainland forms of transport [1]
A total of 514 historical ferry sites were identified on the military mapping survey maps, with an additional 28 recognized from auxiliary sources that did not appear in the military topographic maps
The agreement between the information stemming from the old topographic maps, on the one hand, and the navigation data, on the other, was approximately 70% if we considered the time aspect, but it reached over 97% if we merely accounted for the locations of the ferry sites regardless of the time period
Summary
Large rivers embody a natural landscape barrier, one that has always been significant to mainland forms of transport [1]. As far back as the first half of the 19th century, stone bridges were very rare and wooden bridges were often unkempt and dangerous; fords constituted a common means to overcome flows. Ferries were part of the manorial privileges since time immemorial, and it was not until the second half of the 19th century that a law was passed to make ferry operation a licensed business [4]. With the gradual development of technical knowledge and construction technologies, bridges became the dominant option for crossing watercourses, and ferries were preserved only where building a bridge was not technically possible or economically advantageous. Ferries are operated on dams or large lakes [5]
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