Development of Serbian cartography from the end of XVIII to the beginning of the XX century

Abstract

This paper represents summary of development of geographical and cartographical knowledge of Serbian authors about Serbia and Balkan. Important maps in the Serbian language are presented with a brief overview of their content, context and methodology. The main directions, stages of development and the most important cartographers and cartographic works in the Serbian language from the end of the XVII century to the creation of the Yugoslav state in the first quarter of the XX century are discussed. During this period, great historical and geopolitical changes took place in the Balkan Peninsula, such as revolutions, uprisings and wars, awakening the national consciousness of the Balkan peoples and the creation of nation-states. The development of Serbian cartography and geography in this period ranged from national romanticism, through descriptive and inventorying of geographical material, to explicit and applied scientific geography and cartography, which began with the establishment of two institutions at the end of the 19th century - the Geographical Section of the Serbian Army General Staff (today the Military Geographical Institute) and the Geographic institutes at the Big School (today's Faculty of Geography, University of Belgrade). The author traces the development of cartography through the evolution of content and the interpretation of the context of maps.