Point on the Map: small-scale maps of Russia

The map is based on the work of Anthony Jenkinson (1529–1611), from whom the Earls of Liverpool descend. Jenkinson served in the Muscovy Company and made four trips to Russia. He was interested in Russia as potentially the shortest trade route from England to Persia and India running through the Baltic Sea, via Russian rivers and further across the Caspian. Following his voyage to Persia and Bukhara, he wrote a book and drafted a map describing his journey. The map was long believed to be lost until its only surviving copy was accidentally found in 1987 in Amsterdam; on display is an abridged version of the map published in Amsterdam by the renowned cartographer Abraham Ortelius.

Pictured in the map’s upper left corner is Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, sitting on a throne in front of a royal tent. Images depict pagan worship, troops, riders, Persian soldiers, a nomad camp, bears, and camels, and are mostly based on books by Sigismund von Herberstein and Marco Polo. The texts in the map describe Zlata Baba (Golden Woman), an idol in Yugra; a practice in polar countries to worship a red cloth hanging on a pole as a symbol of the sun; a petrified nomadic horde (the Manpupuner rock formations); religious rites of the Kyrgyz; and Timur’s tomb in Samarkand.

The description of Poland ends and description of Muscovy begins on the sheet. Muscovy is described as a vast country, whose capital Moskha or Moscow extends 14 miles in circumference.

In his description of Muscovy, Münster mostly relies on the works by Maciej Miechowita. His other sources are Antonius Wied, okolnichy Ivan Lyatsky, and Sigismund von Herberstein.
Muscovy is covered in forests. The map shows nomad tents, a wild ox, a fox, a walrus (at the White Sea), and a pagan worshipping an idol (in the lower Ob region).
Münster’s map of Muscovy is the first attempt to depict the East European Plain based on contemporary and more or less reliable records, as opposed to tales of classical antiquity. Münster took much of the geographic data from Wied’s map, which was made in 1537–1544 and published in 1555.

The text says that Moscow, the capital of Muscovy, was named so after the river on which it stands, and is the country’s largest city with a strong fortress. (Moscow is twice the size of Prague in Bohemia)... The Moskus River flows south into the Oka River, near the town of Kolyuny (Kolomna). The Oka flows into the Volga near Novgorod. Muscovy is quite long and wide. It stretches 100 miles from Smolensk to Moscow, and 100 miles from Moscow to Vologda. The distance from Vologda to Ustyug is 100 miles, from Ustyug to Vyatka is 100 miles, and these 400 miles is the land of the Muscovites, who speak Slavic. The country consists of many duchies (principalities)... The Principality of Moscow can field 300,000 nobles and 600,000 peasants. The Duchy of Tver can field 40,000 men.

The reverse side of the map, page 1220, includes a text on the River Don, its tributaries, as well as those of Oka and other rivers, excessive drinking habits, and abundance of honey. The page also features a wild ox.

Sheet from Geographia by Claudius Ptolemy, the posthumous edition of Giovanni Antonio Magini (translated from Latin into Italian, abridged version) called Geografia cioe Descrittione Universale della Terra (Geography, i.e., Universal Description of the Earth) with new maps added. The second edition of Ptolemy in Italian.

Giacomo Gastaldi (1500–1566) was a Venetian engineer, astronomer and cartographer. He served as an engineer at the Water Service charged for protecting the Venetian Lagoon from flooding. Part of his job was to create maps of the lagoon and its coast line. Over time, he fully devoted himself to map making and was appointed “Cosmographer of the Venetian Republic” and a member of the Venetian Academy of Sciences.
In 1548, Gastaldi published Ptolemy’s Geography in Italian (originally printed in Latin by Sebastian Münster in 1540), supplementing it with his own maps of lands unknown in antiquity, including a map of Muscovy. The latter was based on a map drafted in Rome by Paolo Giovio, whose source was Dmitry Gerasimov, the ambassador of Grand Prince Vasili III to Pope Clement VII.

Gastaldi’s map differs significantly from Ptolemy’s text, according to which the main rivers of the Russian Plain take their source from the Riphean Mountains. As Paolo Giovio writes: “Volga, which used to be called Ra in ancient times, originates from the great and vast swamps known as the White Lakes. They... are the source of almost all the rivers that flow across various countries... Therefore, these swamps are... an inexhaustible source of water as opposed to the mountains, which, as witnessed by travellers, are completely absent in this country; hence, the majority... believe that the Riphean and Hyperborean mountains so much glorified by ancient authors are all but mythical. It is from these swamps that the rivers Dvina, Oka, Moskva, Volga, Tanais and Borysthenes take their origin.

Sheet from the German edition of Ortelius’s pocket atlas Epitome Theatre Orteliani, praecipuarum orbis regionum delineationes, minoribus tabulis expressas, breuioribusque declarationibus illustratas, continens (An epitome of Ortelius’s Theatre of the World, wherein the principal regions of the earth are described in small maps, with a brief description annexed to each map)

Scale in German miles. A cylindrical projection. The Beloozero text says that the Prince of Moscow brought here his treasury to keep it safe for the time of the war.
A major source of Mercator’s information on Russia was Olivier Brunel, a Dutch merchant who worked for Grigory Stroganov and helped facilitate contacts between Anika Stroganov and Johan Balak, Mercator’s informant. Boris Godunov ordered the Mercator map copied and translated into Russian.

Gerard Mercator (1512–1594), Professor at the University of Leiden. His most important work, which remained unfinished, was the Cosmography, a description of the universe, with one of its volumes containing a collection of geographical maps. A significant number of the maps, including that of Russia, remained unpublished. Mercator’s son Rumold published them in 1595 in the Atlas sive Cosmographicae Mediationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura (the Atlas, or a Cosmographic Examination of the Structure and Forms of the World). The map of Russia cum Confignis (Russia and the neighbouring lands) featured an inset of Russiae Pars Amplificata (Part of Russia Enlarged). The map on display is a reprinted copy of the inset.
Around 1604, Jodocus Hondius (1563–1612) bought the Atlas’ plates from the guardians of Rumold’s heirs (he died in 1599) and reprinted his atlas, adding new maps. Following Hondius’s death, his widow and sons Jodocus Jr (1593–1629) and Henricus (1597–1651) continued printing the Atlas.
From 1619, the Atlas was published as Hondius’s Atlas (i.e. Jodocus Jr), not Mercator’s. In 1629, the business passed to Jodocus III (1622–1655), while Mercator’s plates were bought by Blaeu.

The text on the reverse side: Russia
o Moscovia (Russia or Muscovy) The title of the map placed on the shield under Russia’s coat of arms, under the royal crown, surrounded by armament. The upper left inset includes a plan of Moscow. The upper right inset, next to the scale indication, features a view of Arkhangelsk and figures of soldiers (streltsy).
Hessel Gerritsz’s map of Russia was originally printed in 1613, but the following year its copper plates were updated. It was first included in Blaeu’s Atlas in 1634, in the German edition of the Atlas’ Appendices. Later, it was printed with the Atlas Maior that was published between 1662 and 1672.
Hessel Geritszoon (1580–1632) collaborated with Willem Janszoon Blaeu. He created the map of Russia the same year as the map of Lithuania (his sources were Thomas Makovius, and Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł).

The use of Russian sources is confirmed, among other things, by the picture of an abatis (zaseka in Russian) and the text Saisec constans nemoribus desectis et vallis a Tzar Foedor Ivanowitz aggestum contra irruptiones Tartarum Crimensium. Dutch researchers believe that the sources were exclusively Russian. Following Gerritsz’s death in 1632, the map’s plate passed to Blaeu.
The map was a major achievement for its time and served as a model for many Western European maps of Russia.

White Russia, or Muscovy, divided according to the lengths of kingdoms, principalities, regions and peoples, which are now in control of the Tsar of Russia known as the Grand Duke of Muscovy. [Compiled by] monsieur Nicolas Sanson, Geographer in Ordinary to the King.

Johann Baptist Homann (1663–1724), a Nuremberg engraver and map publisher, had close ties with Russia. In 1722, he was appointed Russia’s trade representative in Nuremberg. On commission from Peter I, Homann published five maps, of which the most significant was the map of the latest Russian discoveries on the Caspian Sea and in the Pacific.
In 1707, Homann drafted the first version of a map of the Russian Empire that was premised on Eberhard Isbrand Ides’ map. In 1722, the map was considerably revised to include the Caspian Sea and the Kamchatka Peninsula, which were added from the map of Russian discoveries mentioned above; a copy of the empire’s map was sent to Peter I and received his approval.

The map was to be a part of the Great Atlas; Homann died in 1724 before the Atlas was published. It was printed the following year by his heirs. The map of Russia continued to be published until the middle of the 18th century.

It was the first map to depict the Russian Empire as opposed to Muscovy. Initially, Homann used the old name of the country, but changed it at the insistence Jacob Bruce. The title of the map is placed in an artistically designed cartouche, showing Emperor Peter I surrounded by allegorical figures symbolising the prosperous empire of Christian values, sciences, commerce, maritime navigation, and military prowess that he created.

Sheet 26 of Volume 4 of Atlas Historique, ou nouvelle introduction a l’Historie, a l’Chronologie & a la Geographie Ancienne & Moderne; representée dans des novelles cartes… par Mr. C.***; avec des dissertations sur l’Histoire de chaque Etat (Historical Atlas, or a new introduction to ancient and modern history, chronology and geography; represented by new maps... by Mr. S.; featuring essays on the history of each state)

Sheet 28 of Volume 4 of Atlas Historique, ou nouvelle introduction a l’Historie, a l’Chronologie & a la Geographie Ancienne & Moderne; representée dans des novelles cartes… par Mr. C.***; avec des dissertations sur l’Histoire de chaque Etat (Historical Atlas, or a new introduction to ancient and modern history, chronology and geography; represented by new maps... by Mr. S.; featuring essays on the history
of each state)

The need for a mathematically accurate map of Russia was a major priority for Peter I. He planned for this work to be accomplished by the newly founded Academy of Sciences based on topographic surveys overseen by the Senate. The actual task of drafting a general map of Russia and the first national atlas was assigned to Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, professor of astronomy at the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

As it turned out, Delisle was not up for the job. Combining the surveys, many of which were of poor quality, proved to be very difficult. Delisle suggested retraining the surveyors before restarting the surveying from scratch. However, he was soon removed from the cartographic work following revelations of his attempts to send the classified maps to France. Later he would develop a version of a conic projection that was well suited for a general map of the Russian Empire and was eventually used in drafting the 1745 map. The projection currently bears his name.

With Delisle sidelined, the project to draw up a general map of the Russian.
Empire was taken over by Leonhard Euler, the head of the Geographic Department at the Academy of Sciences, Professor of Astronomy Gottfried Heinsius and Christian Nicolaus von Winsheim, astronomer and conference-secretary at the Academy. Euler’s contribution was the most significant, but in 1741 he left St Petersburg. He was followed by Heinsius in 1744. As a result, the honour of presenting the atlas to Empress Elisabeth of Russia went to Delisle, as one of the scholars at the project’s origins.

Scale in [German] miles and versts Conic projection, longitude based on Ferro Meridian. The map shows a large peninsula in the waters of today’s Bering Sea. The text on it reads: A part of America, discovered in 1741 by the Russians, fleet captain Bering and Chirikov.

Anton Friedrich Büsching (1724–1793), was a master of theology. He served as a tutor in the family of Count Lynar, the Danish Ambassador to Russia in 1749–1750, and made numerous contacts in Russia’s Protestant community. On his return to Germany, Büsching wrote a book called Neue Erdbeschreibung (New Earth Description). In 1762, he founded a Protestant school in St Petersburg. In 1767–1788, Büsching published the Magazin für die neue Historie und Geographie (Journal of New History and Geography). Many of its articles were related to Russia, for example, the translation into German of Pyotr Rychkov’s Orenburg Topography (1762), Description of Moldavia by Dimitrie Cantemir and Gerhard Friedrich Müller’s comments on cartographic activities of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Geographic Department.

When working on the map, Büsching communicated with Leonhard Euler, who was based in Berlin in 1741–1766 while remaining an honorary member of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Philip Johan Tabbert (1676–1747) was a Swedish military officer who took the name von Strahlenberg after being ennobled. Captured during the Battle of Poltava, he was sent as a war prisoner to Tobolsk. While in Tobolsk, von Strahlenberg set out to draw up a map of Siberia. A formidable task in itself, it was all the more challenging given the classified nature of cartographic information. Strahlenberg’s first hand-made map of Siberia disappeared in Tobolsk during a fire in 1715. Trying to save it, Strahlenberg threw it out of the burning house in a suitcase, which ended being stolen. The second version of the map was confiscated in 1718 by Prince Gagarin, the governor of Tobolsk. In 1723, von Strahlenberg returned to Sweden, bringing with him the third version of his manuscript map. In 1730, it was published together with a book on the history and geography of Russia and Siberia.

The map’s cartouche was rendered as a monster’s gaping jaw, symbolising captivity. It shows a map and figures of geographers: von Strahlenberg is taking measurements with a compass (on the left) and Johan Anton von Matérn, his friend who helped draft the map, is pulling a string to raise a curtain over the map (on the right). Underneath the jaw are broken chains, a symbol of von Strahlenberg’s freedom from captivity, and an inscription made across the shackles.
The title cartouche symbolises Siberia. Soaring Phemes trumpet glory as they hold the shield with the map’s title. The Arctic Ocean is shown above with whales and Russian fishermen chasing polar bears and walruses. Siberia is framed by four mountain ranges: the Caucasus, the Taurus, the Riphean Mountains (Urals) and the Imaus Mountains (Himalayas). In the Caucasus, an eagle pecks at the liver of a chained Prometheus; in the Taurus, Heracles pulls a bow; and centaurs are depicted in the Riphean and Imaus mountains. A three-headed fire-breathing dragon is shown under the shield symbolising the inferno of Tartarus, which sounds similar to Tartary.