**2. Theoretical and methodological frame**

#### **2.1. Image-reality dualism**

The approach to imaging the past through a medium of cartography links two key concepts, such as image and map. Imagery is a subject of enquiry in fields as diverse as cognitive science, literature (imagology), human geography or cartography. These concepts, on different sides in the image-reality dualistic model in most modern writings, are being rethought and are actually converging only in recent postmodern works. Image–reality dualism opposed subjective and objective spaces, unreal and real geographies, mental images and cartographic representations. Reality was thus related to objective geographic fact, represented by a map, while images were considered as "false understanding", or a "coherent, logical, rule-governed system of errors" [1, 2]. Phillips [2] is questioning imagereality dualism arguing that the "general characterization of images as unreality is contradicted by a tendency to privilege certain types of images as reality". Maps as geographic representations have been commonly accepted as realistic, although constructed according to the conventions of artificial perspective [3]. Geographic faith in maps has been made possible largely by the development of techniques of scientific cartography and the maps "conquered the world of representation under the banner of reason, science and objectivity" [1]. However, geographic "reality" is not a nonimage, as argued by Phillips [2]. "Reality" is humanly constructed and merely conventional, and the "truth" is constructed, theoretically and politically committed. At this point we start to question the "unquestionable scientific objectivity" of the cartographic representation of the world and to question the map as a "mirror of reality". Recent researches witness these developments as "epistemic break between a model of cartography as a communication system, and one in which it is seen in a field of power relations, between maps as presentation of stable, known information and mapping… in which knowledge is constructed" [4,5].

On the other hand, since the 70s, the subjectivity and "*naïveté*" of images have been questioned by iconographers and iconologists as well [2]. They have shown that images can be read as explicitly social and political texts and not just as mental representations. Iconography defines images as a sign system and locates them at the social level [6].

#### **2.2. Deconstruction as a methodological strategy**

296 Cartography – A Tool for Spatial Analysis

imperial systems have met. Borderlands are typical spaces where a multiplicity of such

Early modern period in Croatian history is burdened with frequent changes of borders between three imperial systems with different religious systems and cultural traditions that have intertwined on the Croatian territory, and consequently reflect different attitudes toward borderlands. Accordingly, a map could and often did represent an image with multiple layers of meaning and perceptions. What one can put into relation here is Habsburg and Venetian cartography. Through a number of examples of the Croatian borderlands, the main aim is to reveal the symbolic layer of the map that leads us into the process of imaging the past, i.e. opening the abundance of different perceptions in the

Through an analysis of the symbolic layer through graphic elements, place-names and other inscriptions, maps of Croatian borderlands have revealed two distinct levels of meaning. The first one is related to the specific relation of the state authorities to the border region, their particular interests and understanding of its importance. Maps have been used as a tool for disseminating the political message of power and control primarily through methods and techniques of emphasizing (over-exaggerating) or ignoring and omitting. At this particular level of meaning, we are dealing with directly opposing images of the borderlands realities, depending on the political sides and their official cartographies.

At the second level of the meaning maps have revealed the most common socio-cultural images of the borderlands that are, unlike cartographic expressions of different state power interests, expressed equally in all European cartographic traditions. These images include: environmental perceptions of the borderlands as depopulated and devastated area; distinction of social groups, related systems of beliefs, territorialization and deterritorialization of borderland communities; perception and formation of regional identities; and comprehension of the temporality of the border and the continuity of Croatian territory.

The approach to imaging the past through a medium of cartography links two key concepts, such as image and map. Imagery is a subject of enquiry in fields as diverse as cognitive science, literature (imagology), human geography or cartography. These concepts, on different sides in the image-reality dualistic model in most modern writings, are being rethought and are actually converging only in recent postmodern works. Image–reality dualism opposed subjective and objective spaces, unreal and real geographies, mental images and cartographic representations. Reality was thus related to objective geographic fact, represented by a map, while images were considered as "false understanding", or a "coherent, logical, rule-governed system of errors" [1, 2]. Phillips [2] is questioning imagereality dualism arguing that the "general characterization of images as unreality is contradicted by a tendency to privilege certain types of images as reality". Maps as

contacts reflect and produce a multiplicity of perceptions and images.

multicultural realities of the Croatian borderlands.

**2. Theoretical and methodological frame** 

**2.1. Image-reality dualism** 

Eventually the two concepts begun to merge particularly in Harley's understanding of maps as socially constructed images. Although some scholars anticipated main ideas earlier, for instance in well known Korzybski's statement that "the map is not the territory it represents" [4] or that "every map is… a reflection partly of objective realities and partly of subjective elements" [7]. Harley formulated a broad strategy for understanding how maps redescribe the world, like any other document, in terms of relations of power and of cultural practices, preferences and priorities [8]. "…Maps are at least as much an image of the social order as they are measurements of a phenomenal world of objects" [9]. He derived basic ideas from writings of Michel Foucault about the "omnipresence of power in all knowledge even it is invisible or implied", including the particular knowledge encoded in maps, as well as Jacques Derrida's work on the rhetoricity of all texts. The concept of "text" does not imply the presence of linguistic elements, but the act of construction, so that maps, as "construction employing a conventional sign system become texts. By accepting the textuality of maps we are able to embrace a number of different interpretative possibilities [9].

In his seminal work on deconstructing the map Harley [9] argues that deconstruction as discourse analysis, demands a closer and deeper reading of the cartographic text and may be regarded as a search for alternative meaning. It means reading between the lines of the map – "in the margins of the text" and a search for metaphor and rhetoric in the textuality of the map [9]. Deconstruction is, as Harley sees it, a broad strategy, more than a precise method or set of techniques.

However, there are some important presumptions, or contexts in the research agenda of map deconstruction. Harley articulated the importance of context around three issues [8]. The first one is the context of the cartographer, including the appreciation of personal views, attitudes and skills, including the local knowledge that is related to the internal power of map. This context is related to the general statement that maps are, like art, a particular human way of looking at the world. Second context is a context of other maps that ensure and emphasize the importance of multiple maps, perspectives and polysemy. Third context is the context of society and points out to the importance of positioning the map within societal-power relations, i.e. within specific historical, social and political conditions, from which it cannot be extracted or generalized [2,10]. The contexts of other maps and society (or societal environment) are directly connected and linked to the external power of the map. It can be seen through maps made by different actors that are reflecting different or even opposed approaches to the territory that were embedded in the society and culture of the particular period and place [11].

Imaging the Past: Cartography and Multicultural Realities of Croatian Borderlands 299

Ottoman Empire and Venetian Republic (Figure1). Borders were, consequently, significantly

In the history of mapping the Croatian territory, the Early Modern Period was directly connected with military operations i.e. the process of Ottoman retreat. This is the period when cartography developed into so-called "military cartography", practiced in military institutions. Thus, military engineers were mainly the creators of new maps. However, the cartographers were rarely independent decision makers, free of financial, military or political constraints. The context of the cartographer, as Harley has pointed out [8], also included personal skills and the cartographer as a person living in a particular society and in particular political circumstances. Accordingly, map could and often did represent an image with multiple layers of meanings and perceptions and, but also, emphasized features of strategic importance of the state or empire, i.e. exercising the external and internal power of

Triple border conditioned a true multicultural surrounding. Croatian territory was a "meeting point" of Western and Eastern world, Christianity and Islam as well as maritime and continental traditions. Frequent changes of borderlines were followed by population

influential in political, social, cultural, and demographic sense.

**Figure 1.** Croatia and triple border, 18th century, [22]

cartography [9].

Based on the iconographic studies by E. Panofsky [6], Harley has defined a number of semantic layers of the map. The symbolic one often has ideological connotations. It refers to power relationships, distinction of social groups and system of beliefs, to worldviews and to what may be called as a spirit of time.

Scholars in Croatia have recently addressed these topics from various perspectives. The first writings embrace the topics of cartographic perceptions and the state power interests of the multiple borderlands of Croatia [11,12], different perceptions of Croatian lands in Croatian and other European cartographic traditions [13], toponymy and perceptions [14,15], the relation of cartography, place-names and regional identities [16], the political rhetoric of maps [17] and recently the cartographic visualization and the image of Other [18].

Imaging the past of the multicultural space of the early modern Croatian borderlands was based primarily on deconstructing the maps of the time, as the main research and methodological approach. Reading between the lines, in the margins of the textuality of map, searching for metaphors, evaluating the presence or absence (silencing) of information; in short - tracing the rhetoric of map and its symbolic meaning and/or political messages. Key elements of analysis were place-names and smaller cartographic transcriptions and objections as they are as much related to an invisible social world and to ideology as they are to the material world that can be seen and measured. All the contexts were appreciated, especially the importance of the multiplicity of perspectives.

The analysis is based on the cartographic originals of the time from the map collections of the Croatian State Archives, The National and University Library and the Museum of Croatian History, as well as on the numerous published facsimiles [19, 20, 21]. A selection of maps and a comparative approach enable an insight into the different cartographic representations and images of the borderlands within different traditions and even within the framework of a single, overarching tradition.
