Research on the Reliability of Mercator’s Map Sclavonia, Croatia, Bosnia cum Dalmatiae parte

Abstract

This chapter describes further research into Mercator’s map Sclavonia, Croatia, Bosnia cum Dalmatiae parte, which depicts not only present-day Croatia, but Bosnia and Herzegovina, with parts of Slovenia and Serbia. Previous research determined the map projection and scale of the map. A great degree of divergence, which is evident regarding a number of towns on the map in relation to their real, mathematically calculated positions, led us to undertake a more detailed comparison of the geographic contents of Mercator’s map and the actual situation. In this chapter, the positions of river courses and their tributaries are compared, along with the positions of towns along river courses and those on the coast of the Adriatic Sea in the area of Dalmatia and the islands. The results of the research show that Mercator’s map Sclavonia, Croatia, Bosnia cum Dalmatiae parte is a good example of a lovely old map which is, unfortunately, unreliable. It is a reflection of mid-seventeenth century knowledge of the areas depicted and the cartographic capabilities of that era.