History of cartography of the Nordic countries II

This issue of Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift–Norwegian Journal of Geography is the second special issue of the journal on the history of cartography of the Nordic countries. The first was published in Volume 74(4), September 2020. Further articles will be published in a later issue of the journal. These special issues take up a topic that characterized the journal from the 1930s to the 1960s, during which period several articles on the history of cartography in Norway were published. Prominent among these was Kristian Nissen’s series of five articles titled ‘Bidrag til Norges karthistorie’ (‘Contributions to Norway’s map history’) (K. Nissen 1938; 1939; 1943; 1957; 1963a). The current special issues of the journal can be regarded as a reawakening of Kristian Nissen’s legacy.

Kristian Nissen (1879–1968), a polymath, was reindeer inspector, historian, ethnographer, geographer, and became Norway’s leading historian of cartography. He was the son of Major General Per Schjelderup Nissen (1844–1930), who worked at the Geographical Survey of Norway and served as director 1900–1906. Kristian accompanied his father during the 1896–1897 inspection and marking of Norway’s boundary with Russia and Finland, which might have inspired his interests in mapping and Saami reindeer-herders (Jones & Olsen 2017). In an assessment of Per Schjelderup Nissen’s work as a cartographer and geographer, Erling Bjørstad (1945a) considered Per Nissen’s most important contribution was his pioneering economic-geographical atlas of Norway (P. Nissen 1921). Both Per Nissen and Kristian Nissen were active in the Norwegian Geographical Society (Det Norske Geografiske Selskab). Per Nissen was the society’s chairman in the momentous years 1905–1906, during which period the union between Norway and Sweden was dissolved in 1905, and again in the years 1914–1921, during World War I and its aftermath. Kristian Nissen served on the society’s board. In 1954 he was awarded honorary membership in recognition of his contributions to the history of Norwegian cartography, communicated through lectures and articles. From 1951, he lived at and was custodian of Polhøgda, the former home of Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930), which had been taken over by the Norwegian Geographical Society in 1947; there, Nissen was engaged to continue Nansen’s cartographical-historical studies of northern and Arctic regions (Nystad 2012, 170, 173).

Among Kristian Nissen’s early cartographical contributions was a pioneering map of reindeer herding, published in 1916 in the society’s yearbook, the predecessor of Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift (K. Nissen 1916). A few years later, his ethnographic map of Northern Norway, based on the results of the 1910 population census, was published (K. Nissen 1920).

In his ‘Contributions to Norway’s map history’, Nissen presented the cartographical work of individual mapmakers: navigator Andreas Heitman and the Norlandia map of 1744–1745 (K. Nissen 1938); the brothers Johan Georg and Franz Philipp von Langen and their forest resource maps of southern Norway from 1737–1747 (K. Nissen 1939); theologian Melchor Ramus’s map of Norway from the 1690s (K. Nissen 1943); the Carta Marina of 1539 by the Swedish bishop Olaus Magnus (1490–1557), marking the 400th anniversary of his death (K. Nissen 1957); and further maps by Melchior Ramus (K. Nissen 1963a).

Kristian Nissen initiated the publication of the 1742–1745 border examination records of Major Peter Schnitler (1690–1751) (Nissen & Kvamen 1962). This publication includes an extensive commentary by Nissen, presenting the history of border negotiations between Norway and Sweden prior to the Boundary Treaty of 1751, and providing a detailed analysis of Schnitler’s maps and other unpublished cartographical sources (Nissen 1962a). Nissen wrote many other articles on cartographical history (e.g. K. Nissen 1937; 1937–1938; 1948; 1949; 1952; 1953; 1958; 1960a; 1960b; 1961a; 1961b; 1962b; 1963b). However, his incomplete draft manuscript presenting a systematic history of Norway’s cartography remained unpublished. His contribution has been characterized as follows: ‘His ideas were typical of his time: a conception of continual progress to the better and a concern with national cartography, but also the Nordic contribution to European cartographical history’ (Jones & Olsen 2017, 17–18).

In the same period that Nissen’s articles appeared in Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift, other articles on the history of cartography were published in the journal. Mikjel Sørlie (1944) wrote about Norwegian place names on medieval European maps. K.S. Klingenberg (1944a) presented map projections used in the 19th and early 20th centuries by the Geographical Survey of Norway (Norges Geografiske Oppmåling), forerunner of the Norwegian Mapping Authority (Statens kartverk). Major Kaare Sverressønn Klingenberg (1872–1959) was a geodesist who began working at the Geographical Survey of Norway in 1900. He was a boundary commissioner for the inspection and marking of the Norwegian–Swedish boundary in 1909 and together with Kristian Nissen for the inspection and marking of the boundary between Norway and Finland in 1925. Klingenberg was the Norwegian head commissioner for a new inspection and marking of the boundary with Sweden in 1929 and 1930. Klingenberg was director of the Geographical Survey of Norway from 1921 to 1945. He served as chairman of the Geographical Society of Norway from 1930 to 1939 and presided over the society’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 1939 (Klingenberg 1926; Nystad 2012, 142–143; Harsson & Aanrud 2016, 517–520).

Erling Bjørstad wrote two articles on the historical representation of relief in Norwegian cartography (Bjørstad 1942; 1943) and one on early Norwegian military mapping, presenting regimental and company maps that were produced between 1845 and 1815 (Bjørstad 1945b). Bjørstad was head of the Topographical-Cartographical Department of the Geographical Survey of Norway from 1935 to 1946 (Harsson & Aanrud 2016, 102).

Kristian Gleditsch (1901–1973) succeeded Klingenberg as director of the Geographical Survey of Norway in 1945 and held that position until 1971. Unlike most of his predecessors, Gleditsch was not appointed as a military man but as a civilian, educated as a civil engineer. He served as chairman of the Geographical Society of Norway from 1949 to 1953 (Nystad 2012, 171). Later, he contributed an article on the Vinland Map (Gleditsch 1967).

Another contribution was by Arne I. Hoem (1969), who presented the oldest extant maps showing Norway alone. This article was a forerunner to his book giving the first broad presentation of Norway on historical maps (Hoem 1986).

Other articles commemorated important historical surveying tasks. Klingenberg (1944b) wrote an article marking the 100th anniversary of Norway’s participation between 1845 and 1850 in the triangulation of an arc of the earth’s surface, known as Struve’s arc. The arc was measured between 1816 and 1855 with the objective of determining the exact form and size of the Earth and extended from Hammerfest on the North Norwegian coast through Sweden, Finland and western Russia to the mouth of the Danube. It was named after Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve (1783–1864), who led what developed into a joint Russian–Scandinavian project. Struve was born in Altona (then part of Danish-ruled Holstein) and in 1813 became professor of mathematics and astronomy at Dorpat (Tartu) University in Russia (now in Estonia). The survey stations of the Struve meridian arc were inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2005 (Harsson 2020).

An article by Kr. Gleditsch & Th. Sømod analysed the accuracy, 200 years later, of the measurement of the Norwegian–Swedish border demarcated in 1752–1766, following the 1751 treaty (Gleditsch & Sømod 1968). Gleditsch and Kristian Nissen had been commissioners for the inspection of the Norwegian–Finnish boundary in 1950 and Gleditsch was head commissioner for the Norwegian–Swedish boundary inspection and marking in 1959–1962. Thorbjørn Sømod was a geodesist and served as a commissioner for the Norwegian–Finnish boundary inspection in 1975–1976 (Harsson & Aanrud 2016, 518–522).

The history of cartography is an interdisciplinary field in which geographers have internationally played a significant role. While this interdisciplinarity was reflected in early issues of Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift, the articles were in Norwegian and their readership was hence largely confined to the Nordic countries. After the 1960s, this field of study barely featured in the pages of the journal. An exception is an article in English by Kåre Prytz (1977), who discusses a 1424 Italian chart of the east coast of North America, on which the geographical names appear to be derived from the old Norse Vinland sagas. A second, more recent exception is an article by Kirsten Andresen Saever (2013), who discusses the sources for the revised Ptolemaic map of the north by the Danish mapmaker Claudius Clavus (b.1388) found in a manuscript from 1427 in a library in Nancy, France.

The current special issues are an attempt to redress the gradual disappearance of the history of cartography from the journal and to bring information to the English-speaking world on recent and current research being undertaken in this field. The present special issue contains four articles: one deals primarily with Denmark and three deal principally with Norway, although all four articles refer to links with neighbouring countries.

Johnny Grandjean Gøgsig Jakobsen (2021 [2020], this issue) discusses the role of cartography in Danish place-name studies, primarily as found in the multivolume work Danmarks Stednavne (‘Place Names of Denmark’) in the period from the initiation of editorial work in the first decade of the 20th century and up to the second decade of the 21st century. He observes that in Danmarks Stednavne the names of minor landscape features are most often found in cartographical sources from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, while the names of larger settlements are documented in medieval textual sources. However, he notes that the type and number of cartographically derived place names listed, and sometimes even their spellings, are influenced by whom the maps were made and for what purpose. Jakobsen further examines how cartography has been used politically to implement linguistic changes in place names in the Danish-German border region of Schleswig (Sønderjylland), which changed hands twice between 1864 and 1920, and in the border region of Scania (Skåne), which was ceded by Denmark to Sweden in 1658. Johnny G.G. Jakobsen is a geographer and historian, with a PhD in medieval history. Since 2013, he has been associate professor in the Name Research Section of the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen. From 2018 he has served as a member of the Danish Place-Name Committee (Stednavneudvalget) and he represents the committee as a member of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. Jakobsen’s research fields range across historical geography, toponymy, ecclesiastical and monastic history, settlement history, and agricultural history. In an article on Danish colonial toponomastics, he uses 17th century Dutch and British maps among his sources for investigating the early Danish–Norwegian toponymy of Greenland (Jakobsen & Lidsmoes 2020). Together with Peder Dam he is author of the volume of the Atlas over Danmark on historical geography (Dam & Jakobsen 2008). He has also produced maps for historical texts written by others.

Anders Kvernberg (2021, this issue) discusses in his article a set of more than 200 Norwegian military maps drawn in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, commonly referred to as ‘company maps’ and ‘regiment maps’. Kvernberg investigates the historical background, origins and goals of that mapping project, the authors and dates of the maps, and their influence on later Norwegian cartography. The earliest known of these maps is from 1739 and the latest from 1831. Kvernberg finds that the majority of the maps fall into two series, related respectively to royal orders of 1763 and 1804. The 1763 order came about due to realization of Denmark–Norway’s lack of military preparedness at the time of the Seven Years War (1756–1763). The first royal order predates by ten years the establishment in 1773 of the Borders Survey of Norway (Norges Grændsers Opmaaling) (forerunner of the Geographical Survey of Norway, now the Norwegian Mapping Authority). Detailed instructions for the first series were formulated by Count Waldemar Hermann von Schmettow (1719–1785), army commander general in Norway from 1764 to 1767. Influenced by the Borders Survey, the second map series shows greater uniformity of content and style than the first series. Kvernberg finds that many of the maps appear to have been made by anonymous, lower rank officers, despite bearing the names of company and regimental commanders. Kvernberg’s article provides the first comprehensive, systematic study of the company and regiment maps, a topic that has received scarce attention since Erling Bjørstad’s article was published in Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift in 1945. The article by Bjørstad (1945b) concentrated on surveying techniques and drawing styles, whereas Kvernberg has adopted a wider approach in investigating the provenance of the maps. Anders Kvernberg is educated as a librarian. He has worked at the National Library of Norway as a reference librarian since 2011 and is currently attached to the map department. He has articles published on early military cartographers and their maps in the counties of Møre og Romsdal and Trøndelag in Central Norway (Kvernberg 2016; 2017). He writes a regular column on maps and map history in the Norwegian newspaper supplement Aftenposten Historie. He also produces his own maps on historical and current topics and posts them on a social media bulletin board.¹

Bjørn Ragnvald Pettersen (2021 [2020], this issue) gives an account of the introduction of theodolites to improve the accuracy of mapping in Norway in the early decades of the 19th century. He describes their use along with other instruments imported from Germany to undertake a new coastal survey of Northern Norway between 1828 and 1842. Using observation logbooks and archived correspondence, Pettersen focuses on the role of Christopher Hansteen (1783–1873) and his colleagues in initiating and implementing the survey. Hansteen had been appointed lecturer in applied mathematics at the newly established university in Oslo in 1813, established the university’s observatory in 1815, and became professor in 1816. He was appointed in 1817 as part-time director of geodesy at the Geographical Survey of Norway, the first civilian director in what until then was entirely a military organization. He contacted German instrument makers through Heinrich Christian Schumacher (1780–1850), professor of astronomy at the University of Copenhagen. Hansteen secured funding from the Norwegian Parliament for the acquisition of theodolites for the Geographical Survey of Norway. Pettersen describes in his article how Hansteen established baselines and tested the instruments in southern Norway before the Geographical Survey of Norway embarked on triangulation, astronomical observation and plane table surveying in Northern Norway. The resultant maps were the Survey’s first publicly available maps. The use of theodolites resulted in a greatly improved geodetic basis for mapping, which provided an argument for making improved coastal maps in southern Norway from 1849 onwards, as well as paving the way for the Geographical Survey of Norway’s participation between 1845 and 1850 in the measurement of the Struve geodetic arc. Bjørn Ragnvald Pettersen is an astrophysicist and geodesist. He worked at the Norwegian Mapping Authority (Kartverket) from 1992 to 1998, when he became professor of geodesy at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås (professor emeritus from 2020). He has written extensively on the history of astronomy and geodesy, and their importance for cartographical survey in Norway (e.g. Pettersen 2002; 2006; 2007; 2011; 2014; 2017; Enebakk & Pettersen 2009; Pettersen & Dick 2010; Harsson & Pettersen 2014).

The article by Marie-Theres Fojuth (2021 [2020], this issue) examines how politicians used and related to maps in connection with railway planning in Norway in the 19th century. Analysing parliamentary documents on railway construction from1845 up to 1908, Fojuth shows how maps were employed strategically to further particular interests. She investigates three types of maps published in parliamentary proceedings, illustrating respectively alternative routes, proposed railway networks and topographic profiles. For those who had interests in railway building, both mathematical precision and detailed maps were regarded as tools for ‘mastering’ snow, tackling topographical obstacles and overcoming distance. Such maps represented a modern ‘technocratic geography’, which not only produced new knowledge concerning existing geographical conditions but also provided arguments for planning and transformation in order to build a new, modern nation. These arguments were furthered by comparisons with railway maps from other Nordic counties as well as Britain and Germany. Fojuth argues that the power of the maps lay in the way in which cartographers, railway engineers and politicians considered them to present ‘hard facts’, leaving little room for critical interpretation. Marie-Theres Fojuth is a historian, originally from Berlin and now resident of Norway. Her research field is the history of knowledge, technology and environment. The present article builds upon her unpublished doctoral thesis of 2016 at the Humboldt University of Berlin, for which she received financial support from the Research Council of Norway. In this work she relates railway construction in Norway in the 19th century to the history of geographical knowledge. The thesis was published in revised form in 2019 (Fojuth 2019). She has also written articles on the depiction of railways in guidebooks and photography (Fojuth 2018; 2020). She has been employed since 2016 at Museum Stavanger. From 2019, she has held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Cultural Studies and Languages at the University of Stavanger, where she is affiliated to the project ‘Locative technologies and the human sense of place: A history of spatial literacy, 1800–2020’, financed by the Research Council of Norway.

Finally, this special issue of Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift–Norwegian Journal of Geography includes a review by Michael Jones (2021) of a comprehensive institutional history of the Norwegian Mapping Authority from its establishment as the Borders Survey of Norway in 1773 until 2016, written by Harsson & Aanrud (2016).

Notes

1 https://www.reddit.com/user/PisseGuri82/comments/a55lk7/my_maps/