Cartography as translation: The map production of eighteenth-century French 'armchair geographers'

地图学作为翻译：十八世纪法国“纸上谈兵地理学家”的地图制作

• 批准号: 404839432
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Renate Dürr
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Seminar für Neuere Geschichte
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Priority Programmes
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2017-12-31 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/404839432?language=en
• 关键词: Cartography; translation; map; production; eighteenth

The influential French geographers Guillaume Delisle (1675-1726), Philippe Buache (1700-1773) and Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville (1697-1782) referred to themselves as 'géographes de cabinet'. What they had in common was their method of composing maps on the basis of extensive collections of written sources instead of visiting the countries in question and surveying them in person. The work of these geographers consisted, first of all, in collecting information and documents of various kinds, including maps, travelogues, historiographic works, letters, tables, and oral testimonies of travellers who they were in personal contact with. The next step was to critically evaluate the collected sources by comparing them, using them as correctives against each other, and ultimately conflating them. This approach involved processes of translation on many levels. Firstly, foreign-language texts, names and expressions, for instance Latin or Spanish ones, had to be translated into French. Secondly, data from different historical periods had to be conciliated, and older accounts had to be translated in accordance with more recent knowledge. Thirdly, intersemiotic translations were necessary, since the evaluated geographic material originated in different media, and had to be translated into a mutual “cartographic language”. Fourthly, it was necessary to adapt knowledge which originated in specific local contexts, for example missionary contexts, for the interests and requirements of French geographers and/or their employers. The translation of indigenous knowledge, especially, often proved a challenge for these geographers. This project will explore processes of translation in eighteenth-century French map production. For this purpose, a broad range of archival material in Paris, including the collections of sources, correspondence, and mémoires of the above-mentioned “armchair geographers” Delisle, Buache und d’Anville will be analysed. The main aim is to utilise the focus on processes of translation to illustrate the complexity of the cultural techniques employed in map production, since this complexity is often relegated to a background position due to the usual one-sided focus on mathematical and technical factors. In this sense, cartography is not to be understood as a field which was separate from other forms of knowledge production, but as an integral component of early modern cultures of translation.

颇具影响力的法国地理学家纪尧姆·德莱勒（Guillaume Delisle，1675-1726 年）、菲利普·布阿什（Philippe Buache，1700-1773 年）和让-巴蒂斯特·布吉尼翁·丹维尔（Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville，1697-1782 年）将自己称为“内阁地理学家”，他们的共同点是他们的方法。在广泛收集的书面资料的基础上绘制地图，而不是访问各个国家，对它们进行询问和调查这些地理学家的工作首先是收集各种信息和文献，包括地图、游记、史学著作、信件、表​​格以及他们接触过的旅行者的口头证言。的方法是通过比较来批判性地评估收集到的资料，将它们用作相互校正，并最终将它们合并起来。这种方法涉及多个层面的翻译过程，首先是外语文本、名称和表达方式，例如拉丁语或西班牙语。其次，不同历史时期的数据必须根据最新的知识进行翻译。第三，符号间的翻译是必要的，因为所评估的地理材料源自不同的地方。第四，有必要根据法国地理学家和/或其雇主翻译的兴趣和要求，改编源于特定当地背景的知识，例如传教士背景。的对于这些地理学家来说，本土知识尤其是一个挑战，该项目将探索 18 世纪法国地图制作的翻译过程，为此，巴黎收集了大量档案材料，包括资料来源、信件和文献。主要目的是利用对翻译过程的关注来说明文化的复杂性由于通常片面关注数学和技术因素，这种复杂性通常与背景位置有关。从这个意义上说，制图学不应被理解为与其他形式的学科分离的领域。知识生产，但作为早期现代翻译文化的一个组成部分。