Article ID: CBB862951620

Unravelling a Trans-Imperial Career: Michel Angelo de Blasco's Mapmaking Abilities in the Service of Vienna and Lisbon (2014)

unapi

During the eighteenth century, the global environment of imperial competition and cooperation encouraged the circulation of highly qualified mapmaking personnel from the service of one ruler to the other, thus contributing to the dissemination of cartographic knowledge. This article examines the career of military engineer and mapmaker Michel Angelo de Blasco (1697-1772), whose life in the service of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Portuguese Empire illustrates the importance of trans-imperial approaches to the history of cartography. As Vienna and Lisbon sponsored large mapmaking enterprises, including border demarcations and military surveys, skilled cartographers became precious resources for these empires. However, in the case of de Blasco, the invaluable service done in Brazil for the Portuguese monarch, made him both sought-after as a potential information source for the Habsburg monarchs and unemployable due to the risk of a diplomatic conflict. The efforts of de Blasco to transition back into the service of Vienna included the unauthorised submission of cartographic material. Additionally, the details of the negotiations regarding this mapmaker's possible transfer reveal the processes of institutionalisation and centralisation Habsburg cartography underwent during the time of Maria Theresa (1740-80).

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Authors & Contributors
Veres, Madalina Valeria
Surman, Jan
Gordin, Michael D.
Valerio Baiocchi
Ungureanu, Constantin
Pinto, Sandra M. G.
Concepts
Cartography
Imperialism
Court sponsored science
Multiculturalism
Surveying
Science and society
Time Periods
18th century
16th century
19th century
Enlightenment
17th century
Ming dynasty (China, 1368-1644)
Places
Vienna (Austria)
Lisbon (Portugal)
France
Flanders (Belgium)
Adriatic sea
Eastern Europe
Institutions
Habsburg, House of
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
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