Mapping Europe
In Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, mapping was used for reasons other than navigation or claiming territory, as Europeans had already known about the geography of Europe for a long time. When mapping other continents, European mapmakers were focused on showing what was in Africa, for example, as very few Europeans knew anything about Africa. In Europe, maps were used to show power or the locations of smaller cities, describing the distribution of people across Europe, instead of the basic geographical information that was on maps of other areas about which less was known in European circles.
This time period was around the time when the Protestant Reformation was taking place, spreading their ideas across Europe, and causing people to think not only about their religion, but about their national identity as well. The divisiveness of the Protestant Reformation split people into two sides, both of whom wanted to assert their power and frame themselves as the correct side. In the Carta Marina, Olaus Magnus, a Catholic archbishop, wanted to show Sweden as a modern country, so he mapped it in the modern European style, and drew large, powerful ships to show Sweden’s power. The Catholic imagery shows how mapping was used as a tool to spread ideology.
While the Holy Roman Empire ruled Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and more, German speakers in the 16th century were beginning to forge their own German-speaking identity. To this end, they began mapping the areas in which German speakers lived. Nicholas Cusanus and Henricus Martellus both mapped Central Europe using information from a number of sources throughout Europe. Notably, they left out France and Italy, two very important parts of Europe, in favor of displaying the breadth of the German speaking population.
The rise of the printing press and maps such as these let German speakers see the region they lived in, growing their pride in their smaller region. The Holy Roman Empire was a loose confederation, so there was plenty of room for the smaller regional allegiances that would eventually lead to the formation of the countries we see today. These maps did not have political boundaries on them, because they would have been counterproductive to the goal of getting the readers to think of German speakers as one people. Many average people would not have seen a map in their lifetime, so seeing the land they lived on in this way would help them understand where they lived and who lived around them in a new and different way.