Observations on the mapping of the village of Nummi in the parish of Nousiainen in 1786

Abstract

Very little research has been done to date into the earliest known maps in Finland, and correspondingly little into the cartographic methods employed in those days, the few pieces of work carried out so far in this field being unsatisfactory in certain respects. The object of the present research is the mapping of the village of Nummi in the parish of Nousiainen in 1786. The procedure used was that developed by Praetorius in the late 16th century, which was based largely on the intersection of rays traced from two known points. In the case of Nummi, it is shown that use was made of a network of fixed points defined by pole measurements radiating from a single origin. The details were then surveyed from stations set up at these points, enabling the entire dense network of ditches marking off the cultivated strips to be recorded. The mapping, which was completed within a relatively short space of time, was performed with great accuracy and must have required considerable professional skill on the part of the cartographer. This is a good example of the construction of a high‑quality map using the primitive methods available in the 18th century.