Recently I've been taking advantage of London's status as the center of the world's antique maps trade and have been checking out some of the offerings. The two maps below are not exactly antique - they are from Harmsworth's Atlas, n.d. but variously dated as 1919-1923 - but they are pretty interesting. The first appears to show the brief period after WWI during which the states of the South Caucasus were independent. The second shows that Romania within its current borders (much less its interwar borders) is a relatively recent phenomenon and that when it comes to the notion of redrawing borders in that part of the world, just about any group can select a long-ago date to use as a reference point that would give it more than what it has today.
4 comments:
It's actually possible to date that map to within a few months. It shows Armenia as including the old Russian territories to the west, which means it dates from after the withdrawal of the Ottoman armies from the region (spring 1919; borders reflected in the short-lived Treaty of Sevres in August 1920) but before the Soviet invasion and annexation of Azerbaijan (April 1920). It might be from a bit later -- mapmakers didn't always update borders promptly in those pre-net days -- but by the end of 1920 the Soviets had invaded Armenia too (with the renascent Turks slicing a piece off the west), and that would have been hard to miss. So, 1919 or early 1920.
Great blog, BTW. Please carry on.
Doug M.
Doug (from AFoE?), thanks for that value-adding comment. You're right, I've seen the map itself (when being sold separately) dated c1919, and the full atlas is sometimes dated the same way by sellers although I don't think it actually contains a publication date. Anyway, thanks for breaking it down.
the maps are amazing, please do keep that up.
These maps suck balls
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