How maps tell the truth by lying: An analysis of Delisle's 1718 Carte de la Louisiane
by Balash, Andrew M., M.A., THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON, 2008, 79 pages; 1460678

Abstract:

Maps do more than simply record geographical locations. Maps graphically display information that is at once geographic, economic, political, social, scientific, and religious. Through careful analysis, including the conscious and subconscious selections of map-makers, maps reveal a perception of the world. This is the subjective vision of the world buried beneath the seemingly "objective" façade of the map—the hidden story that the cartographers did not even know they were telling. Such an analysis applied to Guillaume Delisle's 1718 "Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississippi" not only reveals the state of French geographic knowledge about the North American continent, but also reflects political, social, and economic aspirations as well as a culture in transition from a Catholicized classical Greek view of the world and humans' place in it to a view of the world through the emerging eyes of science in the service of the state.
 
AdviserDenis Reinhartz
SchoolTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON
SourceMAI/ 47-03, p. , Feb 2009
Source TypeThesis
SubjectsEuropean history; American history
Publication Number1460678
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