|Europe and Scandinavia 16th - 18th centuries |
| Livonia 16th century | Livonia 17th century | Livonia 18th century |

In this portfolio a selection of maps in the Map Collection of the National Library of Estonian depicting Livonia from the second half of the 16th century to the second half of the 18th century have been reproduced. The period in the history of Livonia includes the Livonian War (1558–1583) in result of which the present Estonian territory was divided between Sweden, Denmark and Poland; Polish-Swedish wars (1600–1629) after which the whole Estonian territory fell under the Swedish reign; and the Great Northern War (1700–1721) which resulted in annexing Estonia to the Russian empire for two hundred years. Because of these alarming events both the cartographers from the countries fighting over the Estonian territory as well as in other parts of Europe took keen interest in portraying this area. Estonia was quite in detail represented in the atlases of these times, on a separate map or as a part of some foreign country (Sweden, Russia, Poland). The present selection includes the maps of Livonia and the Nordic countries drawn by the period’s eminent Flemish, Dutch, French, Polish, Swedish and German cartographers.

Two different cognitive aspects are combined in earlier maps – their conformity to scientific facts and their aesthetics. Observing the maps, we can notice that these aspects have different importance in the history of cartography. The maps published here belong to the development stage of cartography which is characterized by the gradual increase of scientific approach, still valuing high artistic perception and the aesthetic enjoyablility of the piece. Such development of cartography emerged in the 15th century and is part of a major culture revolution known as the Renaissance. The starting point of the new cartography were the Latin translations from the rediscovered times of ancient Greeks and Romans, above all, of the works on geography by a Greek geographer, Klaudios Ptolemaios.

An important improvement for the cartography, as for other fields of science, was the application of the art of printing in the middle of the 15th century. In this aspect the development of the graphic representation of the planet Earth entwined with the development of graphic arts. In the 15th century and at the beginning of the 16th century wood engraving was preferred for printing maps. From the second quarter of the 16th century copper engraving was gradually introduced and from the end of the 17th century etching techniques started to dominate. The maps were manually watercolored up to the end of the 19th century.

A revolution in cartography took place in the 18th century. The aesthetical side of maps was no longer considered very important; the scientific correctness and legibility of the data published on the map was put on the first place. Map design simplified; considering the function of maps, the mythological and etnographical pictures, town views and other similar ornaments were from now on regarded as excessive material. It also meant the simplification of map cartouches and the introduction of more easily readable types.

The first atlas in the modern meaning of the word is Theatrum Orbis Terrarum published by Abraham Ortelius in 1570. Nevertheless, there were no maps representing exclusively the Nordic countries until the middle of the 16th century. The first map of the northern parts of Europe was drawn by a Dane, Claudius Clavus, in 1425. Alexander Sculteti from Gdansk, a pupil of Nicolaus Copernicus, has been said to have published in 1529 the first map of Livonia, destroyed before the modern times. The first preserved map of Livonia dates from 1573. It was drawn by Johann Portantius, an astronomer and mathematician from Antwerp.

The map records in the present edition are given according to the international standard ISBD(CM), and include:

Title proper of the map: other title information / statements of responsibility. – Scale. – Place of publication : Publisher, date of publication (Place of printing : Name of printer, date of printing). – Special material statement: dimensions. – (Author of the atlas. Title proper of the atlas / Publisher of the atlas / number of the volume; page number).

If it is impossible to retrieve necessary data from the map, other sources are used to specify the scale, the place or year of publication, or publisher of the map. This information is given in angle brackets.