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Armeense Culturele Vereniging. Kortrijk |
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Հայկական Մշակույթային Միություն, Կորտրիյկ
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Informatie |
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Some 30 years ago I started collecting and studying maps and literature on general cartography and especially about the cartography of the region of Armenia. Three years ago I resolved to collate my studies and the available multitude of maps of Armenia in worldwide sources and commit my studies to paper. The result of this work is the present volume. In the political atmosphere of today the book gains further importance, since it’s contents are directly related to the negotiations pertaining to the relationship of Armenia and her neighbours and in particular the ongoing debates about the Armenian homeland. During the past years Turkish and Azeri “academicians” and “scientists” have laid claims saying that the Armenians are not the indigenous population of Asia Minor and South Caucasus but relative newcomers to the area. Turkish historians are delivering lectures about the ancient culture of Turkey, with no mention of Armenia or Armenians, whose lands they occupied after the tenth and eleventh centuries. Some Azeri “historians” also claim that the Armenians of Caucasus were forcibly settled there by the Russian armies, and the area was and has always been “Caucasian Albania”. If we believe all the above fantasies then how can one explain the existence of the country of Armenia as described and shown in the works of all the ancient and world-renowned historians, geographers and cartographers? Using various geographic and cartographic resources, the book proves the contrary. As seen in these maps, the country called Armenia has been recorded in literature and maps for over 2600 years, whereas the name “Turkey” appears in the maps only during the second half of the fourteenth century. The more complex issue of the name “Azerbaijan” is outlined in paragraph numbered “3” below. It is also interesting to note that the name of “Georgia” as a country did not appear until the sixteenth century, prior to this date the geographical area of today’s Georgia bore the names of Iberia, Colchis and Mengrelia. The book contains reproductions of a selection of maps as prepared by famed cartographers, which depict the area of Armenia. Here one can find maps of the ancient Greek, Roman and early Christian cartographers and geographers, as well as samples of early Islamic, early and late Medieval and generally Western cartographers’ works. Some Armenian language maps are also included, as are some curio maps, leading up to a satellite photo of Armenia. All the maps reproduced in the book are accompanied by descriptions, which give information about the author, date and place of publication and provenance, as well as important cartographic information the contents of the particular map. In some cases, when the maps or the texts are in Arabic or Turkish, written in old Arabic script, some of the important parts of the data and texts are translated, so that the reader can understand the information and data shown on the maps or texts. The originals of most maps reproduced here today are housed in various important libraries and museums and a small part are from my own collection. The sources used for the maps have been the British Library, Library of Congress in Washington DC, Walters Gallery – USA, John Ryland Library of Manchester University, Bodleian Library of Oxford, municipal and state libraries of Munich, Vienna, Florence, Bologna, Venice, Paris and Yerevan amongst others. In the texts and descriptions of the book I have tried to provide information and explain some important points related to the cartography of Armenia. I have also mentioned some interesting facts about the reproduced maps, namely: 1- From point of view of ancient geographers and cartographers, where is the location of Armenia and since when has it been recognized as such? The first Map of the World, a Babylonian clay tablet dating from 600 BC, shows the central world surrounded by the seas and in the cuneiform inscriptions, translated by British scholars; there are three countries in the center, Babylon, Assyria and Armenia. 2 2- In the ancient Greek geography books and Ptolemy’s “Geographia” and its related maps, which form the basis of cartography as we know it today, the country of Armenia has been shown and described in detail. In Ptolemy’s maps Armenia is divided into two parts, Armenia Major and Armenia Minor, where over 160 cities are named, accompanied with their geographical coordinates. These maps have been in use from the second to the seventeenth centuries. In the same maps there are two countries shown in the area of present day Georgia, which are Iberia and Colchis. As for Azerbaijan, the existence of this country in the area of South Caucasus came about only in 1918. Ptolemaic map,1482 – Armenia Major and Armenia Minor
3- I have tried to explain the locations of the country called “Azerbaijan”. The area of the Republic of Azerbaijan was named so only in 1918. Prior to this date various regions of this area were known as Shirvan, Daghestan and Talish, the remnants of the old kingdom of Caucasian Albania (Arran - in Persian, and Aghvanq – in Armenian). This country, which was a Christian one, disappeared during the ninth and eleventh centuries AD, whereas the territory of Azerbaijan - as a province of Persia - existed in the northwestern corner of Persia, and always to the south of the Arax river and Albania, for almost 2000 years. The renaming of the area of old Albania as Azerbaijan was a ploy by the Pan-Turkic movements, to unite the areas from Turkey to Central Asia as a continuous belt of Turkic speaking tribes and separate the real Azerbaijan from Iran. The country of Azerbaijan has been shown in all old maps and manuscripts, including those of the Islamic geographers, but it is always depicted to the south of the river Arax and Caucasian Albania. De Lisle, 1730 – Region of Armenia
4- The book also quotes from Islamic manuscripts and maps, detailing towns and cities of the area, which are attributed to Armenia. According to this information the cities of Van, Arjesh, Vostan, Bitlis, Khlat, Manazkert, Erzerum all are in Armenia. These details are also given in the first geography manuscript prepared by the Ottoman geographer Ketib Chelebi. In the Ottoman maps and books the name of Armenia appears in the area of Van and Erzerum up to the middle of the nineteenth century. On the maps prepared after this date the name gradually shrinks and eventually disappears altogether, replaced by “Eastern Anatolia”, literally meaning “east of east”. In this context the four maps numbered 116 are particularly incisive.
Istakhri, Tenth century AD – Map of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Arran,
5- Medieval Christian cartography depicted the world as a disk surrounded by the seas, with Jerusalem at its centre and Eden at its eastern edge. In all these maps Armenia is shown, including Mount Ararat and Noah’s Ark, perched at its top. The main Armenian rivers of Euphrates, Tigris and Arax also appear on many of these maps. (See map below right)
Ottoman map, 1803 – The Turkish Empire, showing area of Armenia
6- In the portolan sea charts, which were used for navigational purposes, generally only coastal towns, cities and various shore details are depicted. According to this tradition the country of Armenia should not appear on the portolans, since it did not have access to open seas. However, in most portolans which do include the area of Asia Minor, the inland country of Armenia is shown. These portolans show the Armenian Highlands as the source of the rivers Arax, Euphrats and Tigris, where Mount Ararat and Noah’s Ark and the cities of Erzinjan and Malatia are also located. One can argue that the name of Armenia was known to the Genoan and Catalan portolan makers through Armenian merchants, who plied their trade all over Europe, or that the country was know to them since it was the easternmost Christian kingdom known. (See map below right.)
Medieval Psalter map, 1250 –The World
7- In the sixteenth and seventeenth centu ry maps of western cartographers, Armenia always appears not as an independent state, but occupied by the Ottoman and Persian, and later, the Russian Empires. However, the name of Armenia is omnipresent.
Portolan Map of the World – 1450
Ortelius,1595- Alexander Great’s Conquests Weigel, 1718 – Armenia
8- The book also contains some reproductions of important twentieth century maps of Armenia, such as the one prepared for the Paris Peace conference of 1919 and that of the Treaty of Sevres (1920), bearing the signature of President Wilson of the USA. To achieve my aim I have reproduced 127 maps and 36 detailed maps in the book. The text also contain s a brief history of cartography related mainly to the area of Armenia, as well as a short glossary of geographical names.
Armenia as seen from a satellite
The publisher of the English language version is I. B. Tauris – London & New York. The book has been printed in Armenia and will be marketed in late March of 2004. Combined Armenian and Russian language version of the book will be printed in early 2005. Rouben Galichian London, February 2004 Published by I. B Tauris, London & New York – Release date March 2004. 310x280mm, 232 pages. Hardcover, with dust jacket. The book can be ordered through any bookshop. ISBN Number of the book is 1-86064-979-3 |
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“HISTORIC MAPS OF ARMENIA - The Cartographic Heritage” by R Galichian, March 2004 |
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