Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/883

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
MAP
841

and of the crown prince Luis, Duke of Braganza, Feb. i 1908, Dom Manoel succeeded to the throne of Portugal, but he only retained it for a short time, as the revolution of Oct. 3 1910 forced him to fly the country. He took refuge with his mother in England, and finally settled at Fulwell Park, Twickenham. On Sept. 4 1913 he was married at Sigmaringen to Princess Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern (b. Aug. 19 1890), daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Hohenzollern. Dom Manoel supported the Portu- guese royalist risings of 1911 and 1912, and in the latter year met the pretender to the Portuguese throne, Dom Miguel, at Dover in order to concert a common plan of action. On the outbreak of the World War, however, he appealed to all classes of his former subjects to lay aside political feelings and unite against the common enemy.

MAP (see 17.629). Steady progress was made in all branches of map construction until the outbreak of the World War, which had the natural effect of stopping or hindering peace-time activ- ities amongst the principal belligerent Powers. The war had another effect, also, in that its special character on the western front resulted in the demand for a type of map not hitherto in general use in warlike operations. W T ith regard to normal geographical and topographical maps, a useful landmark was the publication in 1908 by the U.S. Geological Survey of an excellent book on the Interpretation of Topographic Forms. As to the historical and technical aspects of the subject there have been some interesting contributions to the history of cartography and to the study of map projections.

In connexion with the war two matters stand out as deserving of particular attention: the revival and standardization of the International Map of the World, and the striking progress made in the few years immediately preceding the war with the mapping of the British Empire. The recent history of the surveys of the non-belligerent countries and of most of the belligerent Powers prior to Aug. 1914 is chiefly a record of steady advance along accepted lines (see SURVEY). It will, therefore, be sufficient to deal here mainly with three matters: the International Map of the World, war maps, and the mapping of the British Empire.

International Map of the World. The official title of this international undertaking is " Carte du Monde au JMUionierr.e," and it is under this title that references to it will generally be found. It owes its origin to the initiative of Prof. A. Penck, who put forward the project of a map of the world on a uniform scale at the Geographical Congress held at Berne in 1891. The scale proposed was one-millionth of nature, equivalent to I km. to i mm., or 15-78 m. to i in. The scheme and the scale were accepted by the Congress, and an international, but unofficial, committee was appointed for the purpose of prosecuting the idea. This committee reported to successive Geographical Congresses held in London in 1895, in Berlin in 1899, and in Washington in 1904, but not very much progress was made. An important step was, however, taken at the Geographical Congress held at Geneva in 1908. At this Congress the delegates of the United States made a proposal for the definite standardization of the map and for the drawing-up of fixed rules to govern its production. The next step in its history is that the Geographical Section of the British General Staff took up the subject, and a prorrise was given at the Geneva Congress that, if possible, an official con- ference should be assembled to deal with the matter. This promise was carried into effect in the following year.

In Nov. 1909 an official conference assembled at the Foreign Office in London, on the invitation of the British Government, and was opened by Sir Charles Hardinge, the Undcr-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The countries represented were, in addition to Great Britain, Australia, Austria, Austria-Hungary, Hungary, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, the United States, i.e. the British Empire and the other European and American Great Powers. The Conference came to unani- mous conclusions, and an account of it was published in a report issued by the British Government.

The object of having an official, rather than a non-official, or academic, conference was that experience had shown that without the support of the official map-making bodies, such as

the great survey departments, little or nothing would be done in the way of actually producing the international sheets. The scale is somewhat too large for ordinary use in atlases, though it is somewhat smaller than the survey departments had been in the habit of printing.

One of the chief features of usefulness in the scale of i to 1,000,000 is that it enables the globe to be covered by a. reasonable number of sheets, 2,084 sheets sufficing to represent the entire surface, land and water. If the next largest ordinary metric scale had been chosen (i 10500,00.1), no less than 8,336 sheets would have been required. Another valuable feature is that the scale serves very well as a base scale for atlas maps, which are generally somewhat smaller. Again, it is not too small for the display of all the main natural and artificial features of a country ; in fact, it is admirable for general official pur- poses, so much so that the provisional editions of this map were used at the Peace Conference at Paris in 1919 for the deciding of the general lines of the new international frontiers. Its uses are many and will grow as the man covers the earth. It will become the geographer's standard reference map. The sheets put together would cover the surface of a globe about 42 ft. in diameter.

At the Geographical Congress at Rome in the spring of 1913 the scheme as formulated in London was accepted generally, but there was a feeling that a more comprehensive official con- ference was needed in order to put the matter before those countries not hitherto represented officially. Accordingly, after some correspondence between the British and French Govern- ments, it was agreed that the latter should issue invitations to an official conference to be held in Paris in Dec. 1913. This con- ference took place under the presidency of General Bourgeois; thirty-four States sent representatives and a very thorough examination was made of the London resolutions and of any proposed modifications. In the main the London resolutions were accepted, and the modifications made were not in matters of principle but of detail. The scheme had in fact got into a definite standard form, and the " Carte du Monde au ft'illio- nieme " is now a world undertaking on lines accepted by prac- tically all the countries of the world.

The authoritative version of the resolutions is to be found in a printed report by the Service G'ographique de I'Armee (Paris 1914), entitled Carte du Monde au Millionieme, Comptes Rendus des Seances de la DeuxiPme Conf'rence Internationa' e, Paris, Decembre 1913, with a supplementary volume containing illustrative plates.

The following are the principal resolutions in conformity with whiqh the sheets of the International Map arc produced:

Each sheet of the map covers an area of four degrees in lat. by six in long., except that north of lat. 63 it shall be permissible to join two or more adjoining sheets of the same zone, so that the combined sheet covers 12, 18, etc., degrees of long. Dut the ordinary sheet, as stated above, will cover 24 " square degrees."

The meridian of Creenv. ich is the initial meridian and the limiting meridians of the sheets are at successive intervals (reckoning from Greenwich) of six degrees, and the limiting parallels (reckoning from the Equator) are at intervals of four degrees.

Each sheet is describe.! by a letter N. or S., indicating northern or southern hemisphere; another letter for the zone in which it is, the zones being lettered from A to V extending from the Equator to 88 ' lat. ; and a number to indicate the sector, the sectors being numbered from long. 180 E. or W. of Greenwich from I to 60, increasing in an easterly direction. Thus the sheet which contains Paris is N.M. 31, as shown on Plate I.

The map is plotted on a slightly modified polyconic projection, each sheet being projected independently. The lettering is to be in varieties of the Latin characters. An important resolution refers to the spelling of place names. It reads thus: " In independent or self- governing countries, in which the Latin alphabet is in habitual, or alternative, use, the snelling of the place names shall follow author- ize;! custom. The spelling ot place names in a colony, protectorate, or possession shall be that of the authorized transliteration into Latin characters in use in the governing country, provided that in the latter the Latin alphabet is in habitual, or alternative, use."

The heights are shown by contours at vertical intervals of loo metres reckoning from mean sea-level. When these would be too crowded some may be omitted, but the 200, 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, etc., contours must always be shown. " The map shall be a hypsometric map, i.e. the successive altitudes shall be indicated by a system of colour tints. There may, however, be published other editions without altitude tints. ..."

There are other technical regulations, such as those dealing with the sizes of the lettering, the boundaries, scales (a scale of km. is compulsory), sea-bed contours, all devised to ensure uniformity, and there is a diagram of conventional signs to be followed.

The regulations appear to be admirably adapted for the purpose in view, and in a few years' time it should be quite a natural thing