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Reviews
MAPPING AND IMAGINATIONIN THE GREAT BASIN: A CARTOGRAPHIC HISTORY
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by Richard Francaviglia
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| University of Nevada, Reno, 2005. Illustrations, photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 249 pages. $24.95 paper. |
| Richard Francaviglia assumes a daunting task in describing 450 years of cartographic history in 183 pages of text accompanied by 48 maps that range from manuscripts to satellite derived images. He succeeds by adhering to several themes throughout the book's nine chapters and by choosing maps to illustrate those themes rather than attempting a comprehensive history of exploration. |
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Broadly described, the themes underscore the importance of (1) imagination and belief as well as empirically derived information in shaping historical cartographic thought, (2) geopolitically motivated expectations of exploration and mapping, (3) information gained from indigenous peoples in early exploration, and (4) acknowledging that mapping always reflects incomplete knowledge. These ideas may be provocative to general readers, and their application to a variety of modern maps may be informative even to those familiar with the recent literature of mapping and exploration. |
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The first chapter includes a useful base map of the Great Basin drawn by Francaviglia. He describes the complex geography and biology of the region and contrasts that description with areas on early maps that were labeled "Terra Incognita" or simply left blank. That contrast allows readers to understand the "forbidden and uninhabited quality" of the region that challenged early European penetration (p. 12). |
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Chapters 2 and 3 take readers from 1540 to 1795, concluding with a description of Captain Miera y Pacheco's 1777 report to the king of Spain about the Dominquez-Escalante expedition. Large blank areas on the maps of Sebastian Munster and Abraham Ortelius began to be partially filled in by "topomyths" (p. 24). Images of hydrologic and topographic features on the beautiful manuscript maps of Miera and Francisco Barreiro reflected early information from Spanish explorers and their informants. Here, as throughout the book, Francaviglia highlights the contextual history of the maps with citations from both primary literature and scholarly studies. |
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Chapter 4 is richly illustrated and covers 1795 to 1825, which is described as a "period ... [of] ambitious, geopolitically motivated scientific exploration" (p. 43). Influential cartographers such as Alexander Von Humboldt, Zebulon Pike, and Aaron Arrowsmith featured inland lakes and waterways whose proper names, such as Lake Timpanogos and River Buenaventura, gave them increased credibility. Francaviglia describes John Melish's belief in the enduring myth of common headwaters of eastern and western flowing rivers, which was thought to be a potential "route of an overland communication" (p. 58). The chapter ends with a discussion and illustration of the spectacular manuscript map of Juan Pedro Walker. |
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Chapters 6 and 7 cover the period from 1850 to 1900. Francaviglia briefly discusses the antebellum mapping and surveying work of members of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, and the work of Clarence King, George Wheeler, and the General Land Office after the Civil War. He describes how gradually "filling in the blanks" on maps with towns, wagon and railroad routes, and surveying and boundary lines served not only to redraw the empty areas but also to increase expectations of ownership and authority (p. 123). Francaviglia introduces material from his previous work, specifically the role of Mormon map-makers and the cartographic literature of mining interests. The manuscript map of James Martineau is particularly noteworthy. Some of the earliest thematic maps showing cross-sections of geological areas of economic interest remind us that, within a short time span, even the interior of land forms of the Great Basin were no longer Terra Incognita. |
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In Chapter 8, Francaviglia discusses modern maps such as highway maps and maps published by airlines, railroads, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Those maps are both promotional and informative about options for traversing the landscape. In discussing topographical maps and satellite images, Francaviglia reminds us that the scale of observation of a region contributes to the knowing of it. Conversely, in his reflective and lucid summary Chapter 9, he concludes that mapping a place in great detail is not synonymous with understanding it as a region. |
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The text is accompanied by black-and-white reproduced photos, sketches, and forty-eight maps, twenty-one of which are also reproduced in detail. The cartobibliography at the end of the book would have been more useful if the alphabetic listings were keyed to the text location of the illustrated map. There are occasional editorial errors. I could not locate the Martineau map (Fig. 6.8) in the cartobibliography, and there is a duplication entry under both John Frémont and Charles Preuss for authorship of the same map referred to in the text. Additionally, there are occasional editorial oversights in map illustrations. The John Cary map (Fig. 4.2) is not the map referred to in the text and cartobibliography, but a later version. The map pictured in Figure 6.4 is more conventionally referred to as authored by Lt. G.K. Warren, not by William Emory, as captioned. |
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For scholars, this book may introduce new information relating to Mormon mapping, mining maps, and the body of highway maps and promotional maps of the twentieth century. For students and general readers, this is a thoughtful study of important themes in the literature of cartography, which is illustrated with a wide spectrum of map reproductions and enriched by a text abundant with contextual information and personal reflection. |
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| James V. Walker, M.D.
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| Eugene, Oregon |
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