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Posted by: Ed Redmond
As we learned in my previous blog, surveying is the art of measuring land. During the 18th century colonial surveying was relatively crude. A fixed “beginning point” such as a tree or a rock was established as the starting point for the survey. A 66 foot long chain, commonly known as a Gunters Chain, was …
Posted in: 18th century cartography, 19th century cartography
Posted by: Ed Redmond
This is the first of two posts outlining traditional 18th and 19th surveying methods. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, surveying is the art and science of measuring land. More precisely, it is “a means of making relatively large-scale, accurate measurements of the Earth’s surface.” The authoritative 18th century treatise on surveying, entitled “The Compleat Surveyor or …
Posted in: 18th century cartography
Posted by: Cynthia Smith
The title of this post does not refer to the science fiction novel of the same name by Jules Verne. It refers to the phantom island Frisland which was commonly shown on maps of the North Atlantic Ocean during the 16th and 17th centuries. Frisland never existed, however, cartographers believed that the island was real …
Posted in: 16th century cartography, 17th century cartography, 18th century cartography, Exploration
![Mappa Geographica Circuli Metalliferi Electoratus Saxoniae cum omnibus quae in eo comprehenduntur Praefecturis et Dynastiis quales sunt. (Augsburg: Mattaeus Seutter, 174-). Copperplate engraving on two separate sheets, with water color wash. Scale ca. 1:10,250,000. Geography and Map Division. Germany – Saxony – [174-] – no scale -- M. Seutter](https://blogs.loc.gov/maps/files/2019/08/Untitled-3.jpg)
Posted by: Mike Klein
Who says you can’t go Baroque from mining? On the contrary, many European regions, states, and principalities owed their prosperity to mining. Among them was the Electorate of Saxony, long a state of the former Holy Roman Empire. Saxony’s Ore Mountains, or Erzgebirge, were particularly blessed with silver, serving as one of its main sources …
Posted in: 18th century cartography