Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/yl4okf54r9
Descriptio oeconomiae – Early-Modern-Age Cartographic Representations of Economic Activities in North Dalmatia
Josip Faričić
orcid.org/0000-0002-8235-1917
; Geografski odjel Sveučilišta u Zadru, Zadar, Hrvatska
Abstract
Natural resources such as the sea (source of life and communication medium), inland waters, rocks, land, plants, animals and climate characteristics have been evaluated economically in the Mediterranean-Dinaric area of the north-eastern Adriatic coast for centuries. The Croatian coastal region was politically fragmented among several European forces during the Early Modern Age. It developed on its peripheries, according to their economic interests and existential needs of local and regional communities. Olive growing, viticulture, cattle breeding, fishing, salt production and various crafts composed the core of economic production on the Croatian coast and islands, while transport and commerce were the basis for goods and services exchange, enabling Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia to join the commerce structures of the Mediterranean and neighbouring regions. Maps are especially important sources for the study of the history of the Early Modern Age in North Dalmatia. Spatial data, including those on economic activities, had been collected by direct field observations and partial geodetic procedures prior to systematic and scientific surveys; data were obtained by compiling various cartographic and written (geographic, administrative, military, etc.) sources as well. There was no intention to comprehensively thematically represent the economic content or a unique approach and methodology of collecting, analysing and visualizing such data. Additionally, in the period between the 16th a nd t he 19th centuries, North Dalmatia had been represented on geographic, maritime and topographic- cadastral maps of various geographic coverage and scale. Differences in methodologies and content aside, old maps still provide an insight into numerous economic activities of the population of North Dalmatia. In combination with archival sources and material remnants, they contribute to historiographic and geographic interpretations of the social-economic development of the region and its influence in changes of environment.
Keywords
map; cartography; economy; Mediterranean; Croatia; North Dalmatia; Early Modern Age
Hrčak ID:
277726
URI
Publication date:
18.5.2022.
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