Carte Générale de l’Empire Ottoman en Europ et en Asie.
Heinrich Kiepert, Geographer
Geographer Heinrich Kiepert (1818-1899) is generally reckoned one of the more important scholarly cartographers of the second half of the 19th century.
Kiepert was head of the Geographisches Institut in Weimar between 1845 and 1852 and professor at the University of Berlin from 1852. He maintained a long association with the publisher Dietrich Reimer. Many later editions of Kiepert's maps were updated by his son, Richard Kiepert (1846-1915).
Another major interest was the Ottoman Empire, where Kiepert travelled numerous times, gathering enough data to produce several major maps of the Ottoman world between the 1840s and 1890s. Kiepert's maps are almost invariably clear and easy to read, and they are as accurate as the scholarship of the day permitted. His maps of the historical geography of the classical world have inevitably come to seem a bit old-fashioned in light of later research, but his maps of the Ottoman Empire and surrounding countries remain extraordinarily valuable records of conditions in the period when they were compiled.) is generally reckoned one of the more important scholarly cartographers of the second half of the 19th century.
The growing demand for better maps during the nineteenth
century encountered numerous challenges in the case of Turkey (ancient Asia
Minor). This vast peninsula’s landscape was (and is) varied and often
forbidding. With their many other pressing preoccupations, the Ottoman imperial
authorities could not make surveys a priority, let alone the production of
accurate maps from them. At the same time they had no intention of
commissioning any foreign power to undertake such valuable work on their
behalf. However, foreigners could gain permission to travel either individually
or in small groups, and the data gathered on their journeys was often
published. Hence there was the potential for foreigners between them to create
increasingly full and reliable maps. One individual, Heinrich Kiepert, gained this ambition from his travels in Turkey as a
student during the early 1840s. He published his first map of Asia Minor in
1844, and an overview (at 1:3,000,000 scale) of the Ottoman empire in Europe
and Asia in 1855.
Kiepert was also responsible for some of the first detailed ethnic maps of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Balkan Peninsula. In the course of many years, he compiled maps of much of the rest of the world as well, in addition to cartographic materials for schools.
Kiepert acquired one of his interests—the historical geography of the classical world—in his student days at the University of Berlin, where he worked with Carl Ritter (1779-1859). Ritter and Kiepert produced what appears to have been one of the first modern atlases of the ancient Greek world, Topographisch-historischer Atlas von Hellas und den hellenischen Colonien in 24 Blättern (1840-1846). Several additional compilations of maps of the classical world followed: Bibel-Atlas (1847); Historisch-geographischer Atlas der alten Welt (1848); Atlas antiquus (1854); Formae orbis antiqui (1893); and Formae urbis Romae antiquae (1896). Many of these works were reissued in numerous editions, including translations.
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Kiepert acquired one of his interests—the historical geography of the classical world—in his student days at the University of Berlin, where he worked with Carl Ritter (1779-1859). Ritter and Kiepert produced what appears to have been one of the first modern atlases of the ancient Greek world, Topographisch-historischer Atlas von Hellas und den hellenischen Colonien in 24 Blättern (1840-1846). Several additional compilations of maps of the classical world followed: Bibel-Atlas (1847); Historisch-geographischer Atlas der alten Welt (1848); Atlas antiquus (1854); Formae orbis antiqui (1893); and Formae urbis Romae antiquae (1896). Many of these works were reissued in numerous editions, including translations.
For further information on Kiepert, see: Antike Welten, neue Regionen : Heinrich Kiepert, 1818-1899, edited by Lothar Zögner (Berlin : Kiepert, 1999).
Goltz’s Redrawing of Kiepert’s Specialkarte at 1:210,000
During the late 19 th century the teaching of geography and cartography at all levels in the Ottoman empire’s civil and military schools underwent radical reform. As a result, maps by Heinrich Kiepert were increasingly used there. So the authorities are unlikely to have raised any objection to an imaginative training exercise conceived by Colmar von der Goltz, head of the German military mission based in Constantinople, following the publication of Heinrich Kiepert’s Specialkarte vom Westlichen Kleinasien in 1890-1891.
Goltz and Kiepert were already friends. The plan was that, in order to gain experience in mapmaking, Ottoman officers collaborating with their German instructors should produce a Turkish version of Kiepert’s Specialkarte. The opportunity would be taken to enlarge the scale from 1:250,000 to 1:210,000 (a choice favored by Russia and also adopted by the Ottomans in their European territories), as well as to brighten the color palette, to make additions such as boundaries of administrative regions, and to mark more settlements and spot heights.
Evidently Goltz’s plan was soon implemented, using a reduced-size frame which covered one-quarter of an original sheet: thus there were to be as many as 60 sheets at 1:210,000 scale, based on Kiepert’s 15 larger ones at 1:250,000.
Ottoman General Staff’s Mapping Commission
During the 15 years or so following Goltz’s training exercise it turned out that Ottoman military cartographers could do little to produce further such maps of Asia Minor east of longitude 31. At least they were able to maintain efforts to establish a trigonometric base for Asia Minor, which was essential underpinning for the lengthy task of conducting definitive surveys. However, Sultan Abdülhamid continued to forbid survey work, and in any case priority had to be given to providing maps urgently needed for the succession of wars in which the empire became embroiled. Progress was possible only after the 1908 revolution, when a Mapping Commission was formed within the Ottoman General Staff.
Its development and aims are usefully outlined in a report
by the officer who came to head it, Mehmet Șevki Ölçer (1866-1927); this was
delivered to the Ministry of War in 1917, and later published in Italian
translation by the Istituto Geografico Militare in 1920. Given the pressing
need to remedy the lack of Ottoman maps for the entire empire (not just for
Asia Minor), the decision was taken to work at two scales: 1:25,000, a large
scale for which survey was essential and extensive coverage would inevitably be
slow to achieve; and 1:200,000. For this scale in Asia Minor, initially Richard
Kiepert’s Karte von Kleinasien western and eastern sheets at 1:400,000 would be
enlarged to 1:200,000 and rapidly revised, more or less as Goltz had remade
Heinrich Kiepert's Specialkarte.
It was data (again, of mixed reliability) from salname that
assisted the French scholar Vital Cuinet’s major project to publish a detailed
description (geographical, administrative, statistical) of the Asia Minor
vilayets as well as others south-west to Crete and south-east to the Persian
Gulf. Cuinet’s four substantial volumes were published in Paris between 1892
and 1894. They include 20 outline maps covering 23 vilayets (or the
equivalent), as well as a comprehensive overview map at the start. None of these
maps is dated, and most do not state a scale although they provide a scalebar.