Chartmaking in England and Its Context, 1500–1660
58 • Chartmaking in England and Its Context, 1500 –1660 Sarah Tyacke Introduction was necessary to challenge the Dutch carrying trade. In this transitional period, charts were an additional tool for The introduction of chartmaking was part of the profes- the navigator, who continued to use his own experience, sionalization of English navigation in this period, but the written notes, rutters, and human pilots when he could making of charts did not emerge inevitably. Mariners dis- acquire them, sometimes by force. Where the navigators trusted them, and their reluctance to use charts at all, of could not obtain up-to-date or even basic chart informa- any sort, continued until at least the 1580s. Before the tion from foreign sources, they had to make charts them- 1530s, chartmaking in any sense does not seem to have selves. Consequently, by the 1590s, a number of ship- been practiced by the English, or indeed the Scots, Irish, masters and other practitioners had begun to make and or Welsh.1 At that time, however, coastal views and plans sell hand-drawn charts in London. in connection with the defense of the country began to be In this chapter the focus is on charts as artifacts and made and, at the same time, measured land surveys were not on navigational methods and instruments.4 We are introduced into England by the Italians and others.2 This lack of domestic production does not mean that charts I acknowledge the assistance of Catherine Delano-Smith, Francis Her- and other navigational aids were unknown, but that they bert, Tony Campbell, Andrew Cook, and Peter Barber, who have kindly commented on the text and provided references and corrections.
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