Cartographic knowledge in the webs of empire: mapping settler colonies in mid 19th-century Britain
Wednesday 5 June 13:00 until 15:00
Arts C233
Speaker: Dr Johanna Skurnik (visiting PDF Finland)
Part of the series: Geography Research Seminars: Beyond the Fringe
Chair: Alan Lester
Abstract
Commercial map companies had a crucial role in building the visual cartographic culture of the British Empire that contributed to the reconfiguration and rearrangement of geographical spaces and people in the 19th century.
Maps that were printed in atlases, exhibited on the walls of state departments and scientific societies and studied in classrooms were instrumental in creating carto-coded colonial spaces and have had profound cultural influences.
One significant contributor to these processes was the Arrowsmith map company.
In this paper I will discuss the knowledge networks that underpinned the making of the maps and their diverse contexts of use in Britain and in the colonies.
Investigating the “social lives” of Arrowsmith’s maps demonstrates how the commercial cartographic knowledge that emanated from Arrowsmith’s printing presses was simultaneously prized and contested in the British Empire.
By: Martin Wingfield
Last updated: Monday, 20 May 2019