![Sample our Geography journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5937/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Geography.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The process of political and territorial unification of the Kingdom of Italy (1860) and Austria-Hungary (1867) highlighted the issues of territoriality both on land and at sea. As a part of that effort, a need of maritime survey of the Adriatic conducted by the joint forces of the Austro-Hungarian and Italian hydrographic offices appeared. The purpose of this endeavour was to enable the production of modern charts based on a comprehensive survey covering the whole sea surface area, from coast to coast. Under the supervision of Commander Tobias Ritter von Oesterreicher and Counter-Admiral Duke Antonio Imbert, the survey started in 1866 and, by the end of 1873, resulted in a general chart of the Adriatic, 4 course charts of the Adriatic Sea, 55 coastal charts as well as number of harbour plans. This paper presents an analysis of the course of the survey, its products as well as its impact on the subsequent cartography of the Adriatic Sea.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Description géographique du Golfe de Venise et de la Morée, Paris, 1771. Bellin's views of parts of the Adriatic coast rely heavily on the charts from Vincenzo Maria Coronelli's atlas, which Bellin himself mentions in the introduction to his pilot book.
2 The only exception was the Adriatic coast under the control of Naples that was charted between 1782 and 1792 under the supervision of Giovanni Antonio Rizzi Zannoni. As a result appeared the monumental Atlante Marittimo del Regno di Napoli that comprised 23 charts (Valerio Citation2006a: 23).
3 Carta del Mare Adriatico o sia Golfo di Venezia disegnata secondo l'ultime osservazioni Astronomiche e rilevi fatti sopra luogo con i dettagli delle coste, Trieste, 1798. An English edition that was based on the latter chart and entitled ‘Chart of the Adriatic Sea or Gulf of Venice, Constructed from the Venetian, Neapolitan and French Observations' was published in London in 1806 by J. F. Dessiou.
4 Reconnaisance hydrographique des ports du Royaume d’Italie situés sur les côtes du Golphe de Venise: commence en 1806 par ordre de Sa Majesté Napoléon […] / par C. [Charles] F. [Francois] Beautemps-Beaupré; assiste Daussy et Tician scrise Paolo Birasco; disegnato del Ekerlin. Paris, 1806. For a facsimile of the atlas, cf. Mithad Kozličić (Citation2006), Istočni Jadran u djelu Beautemps-Beaupréa [Eastern Adriatic in the Work of Beautemps-Beaupré], Hydrographic Institute, Split.
5 Only a few of these charts were published at a reduced scale in the Neptune de la Méditerranée (Paris, 1825).
6 For the first time, charts were drawn according to the detailed instructions published in the Mémorial topographique et militaire (Paris, 1803), which introduced standardized symbols and systems of representation of objects at sea and on land. Moreover, reference was made to the decimal scale and the maps were clearly classified on the basis of the scale (Valerio, Citation2006b: 468).
7 The Cabotaggio comprises a single large general chart of the Adriatic and 20 coastal charts at a scale of 1:175 000, which cover the entire area of the Adriatic, from Venice and Trieste in the west to Otranto and Corfu in the east.
8 It was rooted in the Military Geographical Institute of the Austrian General Staff in Milan, which was created when the Austrians established the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. In 1839, by merging the Milanese Geographic Institute and the Viennese Topographic Institute of the I&R Quartermaster General Staff, the Institute of Military Geography (the K.u.k. Militärgeographisches Institut) was formed. From 1860 onwards, navigational charts for restricted military use were instead produced at the naval base in Trieste.
9 Founded in 1861 with its headquarters in Turin by merging the Office of the General Staff of the Sardinian kingdom, the Tuscan Topographical Office and the Royal Neapolitan Topographical Office. The office was relocated to Florence in 1865 where it is still situated.
10 Cf. Tobias von Oesterreicher, Aus fernem Osten und Westen: Skizzen aus Ostasien, Nord- und Süd-Amerika. Vienna, Pest: Hartleben, 1879.
11 AT-OeStA/KA Marine NMA PA Offiziere und Beamte Akten QL 3927.
12 Besides in the Rivista Marittima, Mirabello's account was also included in a statistical publication entitled L'Italia Economica (Rome, 1874) and compiled by Gustavo Uzielli. Uzielli's report was accompanied by an overview map that showed the Italian triangulation networks used for the purpose of the hydrographic survey.
13 A new triangulation of Dalmatia was conducted in 1870–1871 for the purpose of the European Degree measurement, those data, however, have not been published yet.
14 Cf. Die astronomisch-geodätischen Arbeiten des K. und K. Militärgeographischen Institutes in Wien 2. Band. Budapest, 1873.
15 A famous publisher, bookseller and map seller based in Trieste. The bookstore was founded as the Libreria Börner in 1833 and was taken over by F.H. Schimpff in 1849. Situated on the Piazza della Borsa, it has an iconic place in Trieste's cultural history. After Schimpff's death in 1862, his widow, Ana Jahn Schimpff, continued the business under the same name. The bookstore is also known as a favourite place of James Joyce.
16 Johannes Ulrich Höpli, better known as Ulrico Hoepli, was a naturalized Italian publisher who started his book publishing business in Milan in 1870. Thanks to his good connections with the Milanese Technical Institute (later to become the Politecnico di Milano) and other Milanese scientific institutions, such as the Brera Astronomical Observatory, he became one of the most distinguished Italian publishers in the field of science and technology.
17 General-Karten in vier Blättern: Nach den Aufnahmen der k.k. österreichischen und k. italienischen Kriegs-Marine, unter der Leitung der Linien-Schiffs-Kapitäne T. v. Oesterreicher und Duca A. Imbert 1867–1873.- 1:350 000. Pola: Hydrografisches Amt der k.k. Kriegs-Marine, 1878.- Engraving; 78×96 cm. War Archive, Vienna, Map Collection, B.IX.b-95-1.
18 Carta generale del Mare Adriatico in quattro fogli, compilata sui lavori della R. Marina italiana e dell' I. R. marina Austro-Ungaricasotto la direzione rispettiva dei capitani di vascello Duca A. Imbert e cap. T. Oesterreicher 1867–1873.- 1:350 000. Genoa: Ufficio Idrografico sotto la direzione del cap. di fregata G. B. Magnaghi, 1878.- Engraving; 78 × 96 cm. Biblioteca di Geografia - Università di Padova, MAP.22.
19 Adriatisches Meer: General-und Kurs Karte. Nach den Aufnahmen der k.k. österreichischen und k. italienischen Kriegs-Marine, unter der Leitung der Linien-Schiffs-Kapitäne T. v. Oesterreicher und Duca A. Imbert 1867–1873.- 1:1 000 000. Pola: Hydrografisches Amt der k.k. Kriegs-Marine, 1878.- Engraving; 78.5 × 77 cm. War Archive, Vienna, Map Collection, B.IX.b-95-1
20 Carta generale di navigazione del Mare Adriatico compilata sui recenti lavori della R. Marina italiana e dell’ I. R. marina austro-ungarica, diretti dal cap. di vascello Antonio Imbert e dall' i.r. cap. di vascello T. Oesterreicher. 1:1 000 000.- Genoa: Ufficio Idrografico, 1878. Engraving; 78.5 × 77 cm.
21 Austria-Hungary officially introduced the metric system of measures in 1871. However, since the survey was carried out in the old Austrian system of measures, it was decided that the old measures should applied to the whole series of coastal charts, including the sheets published after 1871.
22 Due to the use of Italian language as official language in Istria and Dalmatia for centuries, all the place names along the Croatian coast were Italianized. Only in 1883 did Croatian become the official language in Dalmatia, while its use in Istria was postponed until 1893. Yet, Italianized place names continued to be in use on all Austrian maps through early twentieth century.
23 It was a standardized scale applied to all Italian coastal charts. Cf. the charts of the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas at a same scale, published by the Istituto Geografico Militare in 1876. The same scale was applied in the Italian topographic map series as well.
24 The Istituto topografico militare was created in 1862, but was renamed the Istituto geografico militare (IGM) in 1882. In 1875, it was decided to extend the topographic survey from the former Kingdom of Naples to the entire territory of the united Kingdom of Italy. As a result appeared a 1:100 000 topographic map series.
25 The accompanying pilot book (Segelhandbuch für das Adriatische Meer) was published in the same year.
26 Based on Italian and Austrian originals, British charts of Adriatic were published in reduced scales, mostly of 1:140 000. Index to sheets differs accordingly.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Mirela Altić
Mirela Altić is a chief research fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences in Zagreb, Croatia. As full professor at the Department of History, University of Zagreb, Dr Altic lectures on the history of cartography and historical geography. She is the author of numerous scholarly papers and a contributor to The History of Cartography Project. In 2013 she was awarded the David Woodward Memorial Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, then twice by the McColl Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (2014, 2016). In 2017 she was invited by David Rumsey Map Center at Stanford University to give a talk titled ‘Jesuit Cartography of Americas’. She is Vice-Chair of ICA Commission on the History of Cartography and President of the Society for the History of Discoveries.