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The Familiar And The Strange: Western Travelers' Maps Of Europe And Asia, Ca. 1600-1800, Jordana Dym

Jordana Dym

Early Modern European travelers sought to gather and disseminate knowledge through narratives written for avid publishers and public. Yet not all travelers used the same tools to inform their readers. Despite a shared interest in conveying new knowledge based on eyewitness authority, Grand Tour accounts differed in an important respect from travelogues about Asia: they were less likely to include maps until the late eighteenth century. This paper examines why, using travel accounts published between 1600 and 1800 about Italy and (...) France (Europe) and India and Japan (Asia). It argues that maps of different types--coastlines, city plans, country topographies--appeared …