Mapping the State: Cartographic Representations of Switzerland, 1530-1865

Authors

James T. Lindberg

Keywords

Switzerland, Swiss history, European history

Abstract

T his paper di scusses the relationship between cartography and the emergence of the Swiss state between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. Maps are read as texts through an analysis of their visual components and contextualized within broader historical events. Each map illustrates a stage in the developing relationship between political ideas about Swiss territory and the representation of these ideas cartographically. Once space is represented as belonging to a specific polity, that space is 'territorialized' and becomes part of a perceived whole. Borders and related concepts such as ' boundary ' and 'frontier ' are central to this relationship between represented space and territorialization. This paper traces the evolving meaning of Swiss borders.2

Recommended Citation

Lindberg, James T. (2018) "Mapping the State: Cartographic Representations of Switzerland, 1530-1865," Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 54: No. 2, Article 2.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol54/iss2/2