Browsing by Subject "kartografia"

It is clear for a geographer that a map is a basic tool for presenting the world or parts of it. A map promotes national identity as it creates a meaning and boundaries for a society. It is concrete and provides means to belong to a society. Maps provide material for studying and understanding the history of mankind. They are artifacts worth collecting. This is what makes maps and studying of maps interesting. This field has not been widely researched in Finland despite the awesome collections. These are the reasons behind in the selecting the topic of my master thesis. The history of cartography is a material part of cultural and human geography. Research on map collecting especially, albeit more common abroad, is decades old or scattered in various publications. The challenge of my master thesis is the management of scarcity and partially outdated as well as scattered materials. The development of the research hypothesis has emerged from my strong interest to the subject. One should focus on a specific theme when it comes to collecting old maps. This allows the historic or economic value of the collection to be significant. Collecting of antique maps can be focused on a specific region, cartographer, era or geographic specialty. The characteristics of map collectors can be divided into researchers, selective collectors or investors. The most material aspects of map markets are the places to obtain maps, pricing and investment potential. The downside of map collecting relate to their low survival rate, theft, forgery and ageing of collectors. Maps have been both luxury and commodity items. They have been collected already for centuries for their political, religious, geographical, or esthetical values. During the Renaissance, maps started to spread to a wider group of collectors, driven by innovations and expeditions. They became collection objects of the intelligentsia in the 18th century and incitement for many expeditions and national collections in the next century. The 1920s started the heydays of map collecting both in Finland and Europe. At the same time publications and research related to the history of cartography increased and the field started to gain in valuation. The economic and cultural changes in Finland in the 19th and 20th centuries enabled a wider collecting of maps. There was a need in Finland to know about the history of the nation, society and region and collect related maps. Among the Finland-born scientists and map collectors, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld became the founding father of the history of cartography and his collection is among the most valued globally. Obtaining Nordenskiöld’s collection to Finland in 1906 gave a strong signal of the importance of the history of cartography and map collecting. Many Finnish businessmen, politicians and cultural influencers became interested in old maps. Meanwhile, the antiquarian business, which acted as a marketplace for maps, was established. The heydays of map collecting in Finland was between 1960-90s. However, the migration of the map markets to the internet meant that the era of big collectors in Finland is over. Finnish map collector Juha Nurminen (b. 1946) was chosen as the subject of this thesis as he is one of the most significant map collectors in Finland. He has reaped a meaningful collection of world maps and other maps of the Nordic and the Arctic over five decades. His collections have been relocated and new uses at their new locations through sales and donations. The research angle of my master thesis is cross scientific, and it mainly represents the history of cartography and the cultural history of collecting both in a European and Finnish context. Qualitative methods are used in the research and written sources, interviews, and pictures as material.