Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Topographic Mapping of the Balkans

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we analyse the nineteenth-century Ottoman cartographic activities and map production in the European parts of their empire. Already weakened by centuries of wars, the Ottoman Empire, in its late phase of territorial regression, had to find a way to compensate the absence of its own mapping activities. That especially came to the fore when the interest of the Ottoman administration in the mapping of the European part of its empire was stimulated by the requirements of its military operations during the Russo-Turkish Wars, as well as by the consequent geopolitical changes that occurred with the independence of certain parts of the empire (Greece, Wallachia and Moldavia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria). The solution was found in translating European, mostly Austrian and Russian, topographic maps into the Ottoman Turkish language. This practice resulted in the production of topographic maps that met the military needs of the Ottoman army, but also in a gradual transfer of the Western science and cartographic practice to the Ottoman culture.

KEYWORDS:

• Ottoman Empire
• topographic mapping
• military cartography
• nineteenth century
• the Balkans

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on the contributor

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. Altić 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 Vice-President/President Elect of the Society for the History of Discoveries.

Notes

1 [Map of European parts of the Ottoman Empire]. – Scale ca. 1:1 100 000. Manuscript in colour; 156 × 111 cm. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B.III.a.41. According to the note on the back of the map, it was confiscated by the Austrian army during the defeat of the Ottomans in the battle of Petrovaradin on 8 August 1716. Ironically, due to a lack of recent information on Ottoman territories, Sanson’s map that they translated shows the borders as they were before the Ottoman incursion.

2 For the purpose of demarcations, a joined Austrian-Ottoman border commission was created each time when a treaty needed to be signed. Although the Ottomans always had their representatives in border commissions, the mapping of the border was normally assigned to Habsburg military cartographers. In 1699, it was Johann Christian Müller (1673–1721) who conducted a survey of the border and produced an official demarcation map (under the supervision of Luigi Fernando Marsigli). In 1718, the same job was assigned to Captain F. Heise and Lieutenant I. Berndt, while the demarcation of 1791 was conducted by two Habsburg military cartographers, Major Boxich and Captain Franz Rexler (Altić, 1999: 64, 68).

3 Müteferriķa’s main work was Cihânnümâ (1732) with which he filled many gaps in Kātib Çelebi’s work. Cihânnümâ included 27 maps and 13 diagrams with a total of 40 plates. These maps were the first Ottoman documents to be printed (Sarıcaoğlu, 2009: 122–123)

4 For more on the development of early printing in the Ottoman Empire, cf. Kemal Beydilli, Türk Bilim ve Matbaacilik Tarihinde Mühendishâne ve Kütüphanesi (1776–1826) [Mühendishane in Turkish Science and Printing History: Mühendishane Printing House and Library (1776–1826)]. Istanbul: Eren, 1995.

5 Cedid Atlas Tercümesi. [Istanbul]: Bu evan-i yumn-i ikbalde mahruse-yi Üsküdar'da müceddeden bina ve inşa buyurlan Tab'hane-yi Hümayun'da tab' ve tekmili müyesser olmuşdur ve bi-Allah'l-tevfik, sene 1218.– 1 atlas in 79 p., 50 leaves (some folded) : 25 hand col. maps; 54 × 72 cm. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division Washington, DC, G1019 .T2 1803.

6 In 1828, under the leadership of the Russian colonel Ditmars, the officers Vronchenko, Ortenberg and Essen conducted systematic field measurements, particularly in the regions of Wallachia and Moldavia, the scenes of decisive battles. On this occasion, the Russian surveyors established forty astronomically determined points, and made a series of field sketches at scales of 1:42 000 and 1:84 000.

7 In the period from 1819 to 1823, Franz von Weiss produced an 18-sheet map for the Austrian General Staff that depicted the area of European Turkey at a relatively large scale of 1:576 000.

8 Bosnien und Dalmatien/ von Heinrich Kiepert.– 1:800 000.– Weimar: Geographisches Institut, 1840. Unhappy with the result, especially the representation of relief and hydrography, Kiepert prepared a new edition of the map, which was published in 1851. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B.IX.a.930.

9 Serbien nach Österreichischen und Russischen Aufnahmen/ Heinrich Kiepert.– 1:800 000.– Weimar, 1849; 46.5 × 37.5 cm. Second edition of the map was prepared in 1876. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B.II.1.214.

10 Das Fürstenthum Zrnagora oder Montenegro eingeteilt in die Nahia’s (Distrikte): H. Kiepert’s neue Karte von Montenegro / Heinrich Kiepert.– 1:500 000.– Berlin: 1862. Lithograph in colour; 29 × 30 cm. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B.II.1.241–1.

11 Die Walachei/ Heinrich Kiepert.– 1:800 000. Weimar: 1849.– Lithograph; 59×33 cm. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B III a 189.

12 General-Karte von der europäischen Türkei/ Heinrich Kiepert.– 1:1 000 000.– Berlin: In Commission bei Dietrich Reimer, 1853. It contains an ancillary 1:500 000 map of Montenegro. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B III a 62.

13 [Map of Montenegro]. Ottoman General Staff. –ca. 1:500 000.– [after 1860].– Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Map Collection, CBB–IIIc–Kart. Q1247.

14 Montenegro was declared a principality in 1852. After the uprising in 1858, Montenegro achieved significant territorial gains in areas that previously were part of the Ottoman Empire. When the border between Montenegro and the Ottoman Empire was officially demarcated in 1860, this was, although unofficial, the first recognition of the Montenegrin statehood (Montenegro would not receive full international recognition until the Congress of Berlin in 1878).

15 Special Karte des Fürstenthumes Montenegro (Crnagora) mit angrenzenden Gebieten von Dalmatien, Albanien, Bosnien und der Hercegovina. 1:144 000.– [Wien]: K. k. Militärisches Geographisches Institut, 1869.– Lithograph on 4 sheets; 57 × 53 cm. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B.II.a.252.

16 [Karte von Montenegro vom Department des türkisch Generalstabes].–1:144 000.–[S.l]: 1874.– Lithograph on 4 sheets. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B.III.a.253.

17 Kapt. Bykow Aufnahme von Montenegro 1. Juni 1860–3. Mai 1866. Reduziert auf den Maßstab 1:150 000. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B.III.a.250–101.

18 The war soon ended with a truce, the only result of which was the proclamation of the Constitution by which the Sultan guaranteed the freedom of religion and civil rights. Already in 1877, after Russia enters another war with the Ottoman Empire, a new Serb-Ottoman conflict arises.

19 [Map of Serbia with neighbouring lands].– Ottoman General Staff.– 1:750 000.– [Istanbul]: 1876.– Lithograph on one sheet; 46 × 38 cm. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B.III.a.216.

20 [Map of Serbia]/Ottoman General Staff.– 1:350 000.– [Istanbul]: 1289 (1875).– Lithograph on one sheet; 99 × 81 cm. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B.III.a.224.

21 General-Karte von Bosnien, der Hercegovina, von Serbien und Montenegro nach den neuesten und besten Quellen entworfen und ausgeführt im K.K. Militärisch-Geografischen Institute.– 1:300 000.– Wien: K.-K. militärisch-geographisches Institut, 1876. Map in 12 sheets: colour lithograph, 47 × 42 cm each. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B.III.a.23–1.

22 The whole Balkans, including its north-eastern part, was covered by the General-Karte von Central Europe at a scale of 1:300 000, prepared by the Military Geographical Institute in Vienna in 1873–1876. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection, B II a 38/1.

23 Bosna ve Hersek ve Sırbiya ve Karadağ [Map of Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro].– 1:300 000.– Istanbul: Imperial Military Academy, 1877.– Colour lithograph in 12 sheets: 51 × 45 cm each. Bavarian State Library, Cartographic Collection, Mapp. XVII,40 h.

24 Under the Treaty of Berlin of 1878, Montenegro and Romania finally achieved the status of internationally recognized states, Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia were given nominal autonomy under the control of the Ottoman Empire, Serbia, Romania and Montenegro extended their territories, while Bosnia and Herzegovina were occupied by the Austrian forces, thus reducing the extent of the Ottoman Empire in Europe to today’s Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, northern Greece, and Thrace.

25 For the battlefield in the north-east, besides the sheets they produced in the 1860s, the Ottomans used the Austrian topographic sheets prepared at a scale of 1:420 000 during the Crimean War (1853–1856), and titled Bessarabien, Moldau, Wallachei und ein Theil von Bulgarien. It was a provisional map produced by the Imperial Royal Military Geographical Institute in 1854 that was based on older Russian topographic sources (Haardt v. Hartenthurn, 1902: 198).

26 Karta csaszti Balkanszkago poluosztrova obnimajuscsej vesz’ teatr’ vojnü 1877–1878 g.g..– 1:210 000.– [St. Petersburg]: 1884.– Map in 55 coloured lithographed sheets. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection B III a 25; and Karta csaszti Balkanszkago poluosztrova obnimajuscsej vesz’ teatr’ vojnü 1877–1878 g.g..– 1:126 000.– [St. Petersburg: 1884].– Map in 61 coloured lithographed sheets. Military Archives in Vienna, Map Collection B III a 32.

27 Rumeli-i şahane haritası/ saye-i füyuzât-i sermaye-i Cenab-i Zıllullahi'de Erkân-ı Harbiyye istikşaf postaları taraflarından tashih ve Erkân-ı Harbiye-i Umumiye da'iresi beşinci fen şubesi marifetiyle tersim olunarak bu kerre da'ire-i mezkûre matbaasında tab u temsil olunmuşdur.– 1:210 000.– [Dersaadet]: Erkân-ı Harbiyye-i Umumiyye da'iresi beşinci fen şubesi matbaası, 1317 [1901 or 1902] .– Map in 73 lithographic sheets in colour; 34×30 cm each. Harvard University, Fine Arts Library, ID 009316995.