Mapping Uncertain Knowledge

Netten, Djoeke van (ed.)

How to present uncertain knowledge? What did, and what do, mapmakers do when they are not sure? This posed a large problem in early modern times, the so-called "age of exploration." Where and how to insert whole new continents, disputed discoveries, questionable coastlines, and islands beyond the imagination? What if the experiences of explorers contradicted age-old narratives? And how to present the yet unexplored parts of the world? Visualizing uncertain information on a map, however, is not just an early modern issue. Twenty-first-century scholars making maps, for example with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), face comparable problems. How to state "maybe" or "I don’t know" with only ones and zeros at your disposal? Where to draw the line? How to demonstrate, or hide, your uncertainty? In this special issue, we bring together experts on the presentation of knowledge in the form of maps. The various case studies from different parts of the world will be related to bigger developments, not only regarding the technology and production of maps, but also considering practices of acquiring and disseminating knowledge, European expansion and empire building. The final section of the special issue features input from the fields of digital humanities and cartopology, also analysing the interactions between people, their knowledge, and their maps.