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IRAN
AND THE WORLD IN THE SAFAVID AGE
Abstracts
Brancaforte, Dr. Elio, Tulane
University, Dept. of Germanic & Slavic Studies, New Orleans, Mapping
the REGNUM SOPHORUM: Adam Olearius' Representation of the Safavid
Empire (1647)
The German Baroque
humanist Adam Olearius is best known for his monumental work, the
Vermehrte, Newe Beschreibung ... (Schleswig, 1656), his account of
a trade mission through Muscovy and Safavid Persia that sought to
export Persian silk to Northern Europe.
Less well known are the cartographic works that accompanied
the travel account, in particular Olearius’ new and improved map
of Persia, the Nova Delineatio Persiae et Confiniorum (1655).
This map, which will be examined here in detail, represents
a significant achievement in the history of cartography,
especially owing to its portrayal of the Caspian Sea.
Olearius’ map - in contrast to the other European Baroque
maps of the Caspian - begins to show the Sea correctly, namely as
being longer from north to south than from east to west.
This is due to the author’s eyewitness observations, as
well as his use of Islamic sources.
Maps are cultural
artefacts that represent the knowledge as well as the values of a
particular age, and the public of mid-seventeenth century Europe
was interested in learning about the exotic, faraway land of
Persia, an area of the world, which had been in the consciousness
of Europeans since antiquity, but about which there was relatively
little information. Olearius’
map and travel account promised the most recent representation of
the area by a cultured observer, one who had actually travelled to
the area in question. Olearius’ Nova Delineatio Persiae is
comprised of both visual and textual elements that represent a
type of text, or discourse, that needs to be analysed in detail in
order to be read correctly. By
investigating the different component elements of this particular
map, it is hoped to address some of the following questions: What
are some of the issues involved in reading a map, and what are
some of the reasons that cartography developed to such a degree at
the small Northern German court of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf
around the middle of the seventeenth century?
What are the signs of royal patronage in Olearius’ map of
Persia and how does the author position himself with regard to his
patron? How does the
author inscribe his presence in the map and explain his
methodology and manner of collecting information?
How is the Caspian Sea represented and why does Olearius’
depiction represent such a significant achievement in the history
of the portrayal of the Sea?
How is the exotic other represented visually and
typologically categorised?
The
analysis thus hopes to show how Olearius’ map of Persia marks a
transition from the classical/medieval era to the Enlightenment,
and points the way to a correct representation of this hitherto
relatively unexplored land for Western Europe.
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