ces papers - open forum 2014-2015 The Beginnings of Historical Consciousness: Historical Atlases in the Eighteenth Century author: dr. manuel schramm THE MINDA DE GUNZBURG CENTER FOR EUROPEAN STUDIES AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY CE-S Open Forum CES Paper Series The Series is designed to present work in progress by current and former Center affiliates and papers presented at Center’s seminars and conferences. Any opinions expressed in the papers are those of the authors, and not of CES. Editors: Grzegorz Ekiert and Andrew Martin Editorial Board: Philippe Aghion Peter Hall Roberto Foa Alison Frank Torben Iverson Maya Jasanoff Jytte Klausen Michele Lamont Mary Lewis Michael Rosen Vivien Schmidt Kathleen Thelen Daniel Ziblatt Kathrin Zippel ces papers - open forum # 21 PD Dr. Manuel Schramm Technische Universität Chemnitz Institut für Europäische Geschichte D-09107 Chemnitz
[email protected] ABSTRACT Historical atlases came into being in the eighteenth century. This article discusses the view of history in these early works, and especially their representation of non-European history. In contrast to historical atlases of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, they did not consist primarily of maps that portrayed changing territorial boundaries, but used a variety of different media to give a much more varied picture of history. The traditional Christian view of universal history was reassessed, but the break with tradition did not yet result in a new orthodoxy. Therefore, the representation of non-European history varied: Some authors stuck to a basically unchanged Eurocentric view, others put more emphasis on the history of Asian empires, but African and American history were mostly neglected.