From fortress flagpole to the Greenwich line: The establishment of a common prime meridian in Norway in the period 1770–1970

Lien, Anne Christine

doi:10.1080/00291951.2019.1682035

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The prime meridians of the analysed maps are important as, according to higgitt & doLAn (2009), they can be used to assert national identity. However, Lien (2020) has demonstrated that this opportunity for national symbolism was often not used on maps from Scandinavia, as, during the nineteenth century, the international prime meridian of Ferro was frequently applied. Ferro is used on seven of the nine studied maps.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Norway, an abundance of local prime meridians was replaced in 1779 by a national meridian through the fortress of Kongsvinger close to the Swedish border. During the following century, it was gradually replaced by a meridian established in 1847 through the Norwegian capital (today's Oslo, named Christiania/Kristiania from 1625 to 1925), which proved resistant against the Swedish decrees on a common union prime meridian (Lien 2020).…”

Section: Sources and Analytical Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The prime meridian is the international meridian of Ferro, which was a common prime meridian in this period (Lien 2020). The toponyms in Norway follow the Danish-influenced spelling, such as 'Qvindsherred' and 'Folgefonden'.…”

Section: O J Hagelstam's Map Of Sweden and Norway 1820mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…in ginsberg 2009, hArsson & AAnrud 2016) but the political function of cartographic elements has not been subject to systematic analysis previously. The present article expands on studies initiated by the present author (Lien 2020, Lien & Lundberg 2022 and examines in greater depth the ways in which different cartographic elements were used to promote the contrasting political objectives of Norway and Sweden. This contributes to new insights regarding the political power of maps in general, and within the Scandinavian context in particular.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Waving the map for national identity: How cartography in Norway and Sweden was used as a nation-building tool in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Lien¹

2023

Erdkunde

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cartography has for centuries been used as a political instrument to support national pride, impact and influence, whether through use of a national prime meridian or local toponyms, the emphasising of the country’s extent through colour, or the underlining and even distorting of its position and size through projection. In Scandinavia, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were times of upheaval, during which regions changed political affiliation and nations formed shifting political unions. Norway had not been an independent nation since 1380, but by the turn of the nineteenth century, Norwegian national consciousness was emerging, in parallel with the rise of ideas about the national state in the rest of Europe. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how the rising focus on national identity in Norway was nurtured through cartography during the final decades of the union with Denmark (1380-1814) and the first decades of the new union with Sweden from 1814 (-1905). A further aim has been to consider how Sweden, as the senior union partner, might similarly have used cartography to keep the union together as a unity, in opposition to the Norwegian national self-assertion. A selection of Scandinavian maps from the late eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century have been analysed with a focus on cartographic elements with potential impact on national identity. The main results indicate that both Norwegian and Swedish maps of that time may have been used as instruments of political influence. The use of cartographic elements on the analysed maps in general seem to have strengthened Swedish hegemony on one side and Norwegian nationalism on the other side, thus reinforcing the political division of Scandinavia still seen today.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sources and Analytical Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: O J Hagelstam's Map Of Sweden and Norway 1820mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

See 2 more Smart Citations