Commentary on “A History of Twentieth-Century American Academic Cartography” by Robert McMaster and Susanna McMaster Sara Irina Fabrikant KEYWORDS: History of cartography ; thematic cartography , 20th century cartography , Germany, Austria, Switzerland n their contribution to the recent specia l issue Sara Irina Fabrikant is an Assistant Professor at the of Cartography and Geographic Information Department of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara, Science on “Exploratory Essays: History of Ellison Hall 3611, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, U.S.A. E-mail: ICartography in the Twentieth Century” (V ol. 29, <
[email protected]>. No. 3, pp. 305-321), McMaster and McMaster make the claim that “a lthough the main de vel- Germany, Austria, or Switzerland in their list of opment of thematic mapping can be traced to countries with “very rich cartographic acti vity” (p. nineteenth-century Europe, it is in the twentieth- 305). By only broadly sketching the recent history century United States that thematic cartography of academic cartography in German-speaking evolved as an academic discip line” (p. 306). In this nations (i.e., Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), commentary, I will argue and pro vide evidence for one can show that the McMasters ’ statement is the idea that fundamenta l contributions to the factually wrong. Although the authors assert their development of academic thematic cartography exclusive focus on the history of academic cartog- were made in Europe, and that these de velopments raphy only in the U.S., it is informati ve to compare occurred ear lier than those imp lied by McMaster that history to the history in the German-speaking and McMaster in the U.S.