The Eastern and Northern Borders of Europe
European map makers conceptualized Europe as powerful, therefore they wanted it to be as big on maps as possible. The only movable border is the east, so they would expand the eastern border, which would cause issues as that included people that Europeans didn’t want to count as European. The northern border also moved to include Scandinavia in the 15th century.
Europe’s eastern border moved east to contain areas that were othered on maps at the time, such as in Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrvm orbis terrarvm, the first published atlas. His region map of Europe (left) has the eastern border at the Caspian Sea. There are roads and cities across the map, but fewer as you move east.
There are many trees in what is today known as Russia, Finland, the Baltics, Belarus, and Ukraine. There are tents on the eastern border of Russia. These trees and tents portray Eastern Europe as wild and untamed lands. These lands are depicted as non-European, but also outside of Asia’s borders. This othering helps to serve as a contrast for the rest of Europe to appear more civilized and orderly.
Othering of the eastern edge of Europe continues in Joan Blaeu’s Atlas Maior. The world map (right, top) has Europe marked going to the Caspian Sea. On the map of just Europe (right, bottom), it only goes to the Black Sea. The map of Europe has drawings of people from different countries on its left and right sides. The easternmost country with its people drawn on this map of Europe is Greece.
More territory is marked for Europe on Blaeu’s world map than on his map of Europe, but that extra territory is seen as wildlands. In what is Russia today, there are many trees and three bears. Other than a few in Norway, there are no trees in the rest of Europe. On the western edge of Russia, “Moscovia” is labeled. On Blaeu's map of Asia, there are drawings of people from different countries and “Muscovites” are drawn. Moscow, Russia, was assigned to Asia but still appears on the map of Europe. Blaeu’s tree cover goes less west than on Ortelius’s map: Finland, the Baltics, and Ukraine were now European. This shows how the border changes over time.
These country and continent borders were not meant to be precise. The map of Europe has country borders drawn, which was only becoming expected in the 17th century. These borders are not as solid as they look, as different copies of the atlas have different borders drawn. The borders were not engraved with ink, instead they were illustrated with colors afterward. Europe’s eastern border varies in shape from copy to copy.
There is no question today about Europe's northern border and the importance of Scandinavia. However, this was not always the case. On Ptolemy world maps, such as the Genoese world map seen on the Portolan chart page, there are no details or place names in Scandinavia. The coast lines are vague, unlike the rest of Europe.
Scandinavia’s inclusion to Europe was argued in Olaus Magnus’s “Carta Marina” map (left). The Carta Marina is the first complete depiction of Scandinavia. It has terrain, animals, ships, sea monsters, labeled towns, and many people. The people are fully clothed — unlike common depictions of Asia and Africa where people were partially or fully nude. There are commonalities with the rest of Europe: the ships, symbolism of kings, clothing, and coats of arms are all similar. These similarities show how Scandinavia is a part of Europe.
Scandinavia’s importance is conveyed by the quality and specificity of details on the “Carta Marina”. There is a detailed genealogy showing the lines of succession, implicitly arguing for the importance of that family and the power of their rule. The level of detail in terrain and town names shows that Magnus cared about the land and its people, and therefore the reader should too.
Sources:
Akerman, James R. “The Structuring of Political Territory in Early Printed Atlases.” Imago Mundi 47 (1995): 141. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1151310.
Koeman, Cornelis, Günter Schilder, Marcx o van Egmond, and Peter van der Krogt. “Commercial Cartography and Map Production in the Low Countries, 1500–ca. 1672.” In The History of Cartography, edited by David Woodward, vol 3, (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2007), 1318. https://press.uchicago.edu/books/HOC/HOC_V3_Pt2/Volume3_Part2.html.
Wintle, Michael J.. “Renaissance maps and the construction of the idea of Europe.” Journal of Historical Geography, vol 25, no 2, (1999): 145. https://doi.org/10.1006/jhge.1999.0111.