The Cartographic State
Maps, Territory, and the Origins of Sovereignty

This book describes the emergence of the territorial state and examines the role that cartography has played in shaping its linear boundaries.

Jordan Branch (Author)

9781107499720, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 December 2014

242 pages, 14 b/w illus.
23 x 15.3 x 1.4 cm, 0.38 kg

'This is a fascinating book that retells history of modern cartography from an international relations perspective. As such, Branch skillfully brings together critical interpretations from two areas of scholarship to provide a compelling argument on how the developments of maps and political sovereignty are crucially linked. The primary thesis is that the depiction of bounded spaces on early modern maps preceded modern political practice premised upon bounded spaces. This has important theoretical ramifications for understanding how a uniquely modern form of relations between states was created … This book has stimulated me to engage with its ideas; it presents a very distinctive and distinguished argument that I recommend others to likewise engage with.' Peter J. Taylor, The Cartographic Journal

Why is today's world map filled with uniform states separated by linear boundaries? The answer to this question is central to our understanding of international politics, but the question is at the same time much more complex - and more revealing - than we might first think. This book examines the important but overlooked role played by cartography itself in the development of modern states. Drawing upon evidence from the history of cartography, peace treaties and political practices, the book reveals that early modern mapping dramatically altered key ideas and practices among both rulers and subjects, leading to the implementation of linear boundaries between states and centralized territorial rule within them. In his analysis of early modern innovations in the creation, distribution and use of maps, Branch explains how the relationship between mapping and the development of modern territories shapes our understanding of international politics today.

1. Introduction
2. Authority, sovereignty, and international change
3. The cartographic revolution
4. Mapping the territorial state
5. New World mapping and colonial reflection
6. Peace treaties and political transformation
7. Mapping the territorialization of France
8. The cartographic state today.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Sociology [JHB], Historical geography [HBTP], General & world history [HBG]