what is a map?

The gathering of epistemology and its attributions to particular standardized terms of which had little significance if at all in previous periods, transformed the function as well as the meaning of such knowledge. In this case, the knowledge of geography, cosmography, religion, politics, travelers’ accounts, science, mathematics, and art, are all assembled to create the so-called “map”. The contrasting position of the map that stands within subjectivity and simultaneously within the objectivity of its concept shift it away from any terminological connotation. By looking at the long historical background of the “map”, terminology appears to be of no concern to scholars, particularly to Islamic and Arabic intellectuals, where the word “map” simply did not exist despite the importance of geography and cartography. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche exclaimed on the topic of terminology: “Nothing is definable unless it has no history.” However, due to modernism, “map” was converted into an official term that consists of various representations. This phenomenon led Islamic scholars to come up with terms for “map” such as kharitah. A major Islamic map is the one made by Muhammad Al-Idrisi in 1154, which is considered to have nearly reached subject independency probably not in Nietzsche’s opinion but according to other cartographers and scholars.

The rise of the Modern phenomenon during the end of the nineteenth Century assisted in creating a definition for “map’, which shifted the map’s representation from a symbolic subjective interpretation of thought and experience to a more theoretically objective one. This shift or the so-called development of representation is explained in Christopher Witmore’s response on Julian Thomas’s book Archaeology and Modernity: “Modernity is a constellation of ideological, material and social beliefs oriented around notions of progress and development, which presuppose a separation with the past.” This division between the past and the present denies the historical background of maps and cartography. In denying the history, which is a major portion of the understanding of “maps”, it positions the present comprehension of the word itself in a critical stage. For the specialized definition of “map” along with the denial of its history, transforms it into an abstract Utopian connotation rather than an evolutionary thought. Therefore, if one were to define “map”, it would be something equivalent to: an abstract objective utopian theory of an area.

Map, as defined in the Encyclopedia Britannica is a: “Graphic representation, drawn to scale and usually on a flat surface, of features- for example, geographical, geological, or geopolitical- of an area of the Earth or of any other celestial body.” It further continues: ”In order to imply the elements of accurate relationships, and some formal method of projecting the spherical subject to a map plane, further qualifications might be applied to the definition. The tedious and somewhat abstract statements resulting from attempts to formulate precise definitions of maps and charts are more likely to confuse than to clarify.” The number of aspects illustrated in a “map” complicates the creation of an exact definition that is required to acquaint it within the modern sphere. As James R. Akerman and Robert W. Karrow Jr mentioned: “For us humans, the earth is always more than its physical form and nature, it is indeed, a world.” The visual aspect of the “map” presents the artistic creativity of the cartographer, which possibly categorizes him as an artist or a painter.

Map-making or Cartography whether it was a component of a book or an independent object, is an art in itself. Cartography requires calligraphers, painters, preparers of ink, paint, and paper materials, in addition to mathematicians, geographers, and scholars of astronomy and many others. Thus, scientific expertise as artistic creativity is needed to make “maps” possible. In addition to these requirements, personal accounts of experience and emotion were factors of cartography in pre-modern periods. By looking at old and ancient maps, the depiction of an area varies in shape and even in the information presented. Nevertheless, these old “maps” reached to the ability of establishing a sense of time and space that lacks in modern maps. The implication of time and space in “maps” were established by drawing attention to a more humanitarian based representation of the world. The map of the world by Viconte Di Maiorlo that dates to 1527 illustrates the depiction of kings on thrones, major animals in an area such as Elephants in India, buildings, flags, and ships in seas. This precise representation of the world familiarizes the “map”’s audience with the nature of life during the 1500s.

In the article “Introduction to Islamic Maps” by Ahmet T. Karamustafa, he argues that: “The absence of a specific map terminology in pre-modern Islamic languages should not be interpreted as a sign of the cognitive insignificance of maps in Islamic civilization.” With the modern period and the emphasis on the notion of standardization, an Arabic word emerged Kharitah “which is a loan word derived from the Catalan Carter through the Greek Kharti.” Ironically after the creation of an Arabic term for “map”, cartography gradually became less significant in the Arab and Islamic world. Not to state the negative impact of modernism on the Islamic and Arab region but rather to emphasize the unnecessary terminological excavation in a world of progress, mainly due to the inevitable human evolution at all times. The closer statement to a definition of a “map” was written by Akerman and Karrow who simply described: “There is no single map of the world, but a vast range of images that present different facets of the globe and its contents.”

Bibliography

-The History of Cartography, Volume Two, Book One. Cartography in The Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies. Edited by J.B. Harely and David Woodward. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago and London.

-The Image if the World: 20 Centuries of World Maps. Peter Whitfield. British Library 1994

-Maps, Finding our Place in the World. Edited by James R. Akerman and Robert W. Karrow Jr.

-Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsch,

-Online Encyclopedia Britannica, www.britannica.com

-Map of the World by Viiconte Di Maiorlo1527. John Carter Brown Library.

-The Emergence of Modernity and The Constitution of Archaeology, Julian Thomas

-Comments on Julian Thomas (2004): Archaeology and modernity. New York: Routledge.