Old Maps, Expeditions and Explorations: THE BRITISH ISLES IN ROMAN TIMES

Monday, January 12, 2009

THE BRITISH ISLES IN ROMAN TIMES

Abraham Ortelius, in Parergon, Antwerp, 1595

Osher Collection, University of Southern Maine

This map, oriented with north to the right, contains place names from the Roman period. Ireland is Hibernia, England is Britannia Major and Scotland is Britannia Minor or Scotia. The Scottish highlands are Caledonia, and London is Londinum Augusta. An inscription adjacent to London indicates the point at which Caesar crossed the Themes (Tamesis) River.

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Abkhazia

My favourite is the story of 19th century 'negotiations' between an up-coming Russia and a declining Ottoman Turkey in which Russia demanded the cession by Ottoman -Turkey of the province of Abkhazia. The Turkish delegates who had been summoned to the Czar's palace had little idea of their empire, where Abkhazia was or how big a loss it would represent to Ottoman Turkey. It's actually 8,600 sq kilometers, or 40% of a Wales for those who prefer more traditional area measurements. However there was a map of Abkhazia hanging on the Czar's palace walls, alongside a similarly-sized map of the palace gardens - no scale to either map, although the latter was probably at a somewhat larger scale. Based on these 2 maps the Ottoman delegation concluded they were ceding an insignificant piece of territory.- Dr Hillary Shaw