We plan to examine imperial cartographic projects and mapmakers during the long eighteenth century and address questions such as: How did imperial centers recruit expert mapmakers and use their expertise? How did the production and transfer of cartographic knowledge occur in an imperial context? How did the competition and cooperation between empires during the long eighteenth century impact the production of cartographic knowledge?

The two papers that are part of the panel until now are related to the Habsburg Monarchy. One paper examines the career of the Italian cartographer Michel Angelo de Blasco. This military engineer’s invaluable service done in Brazil for the Portuguese monarch, made him both valuable as a potential information source for the Habsburg monarchs and unemployable due to the risk of a diplomatic conflict. The third paper looks at a case of collaboration between the Habsburgs and their recent allies, the French; this paper shows how the work of Ferraris in Belgium illustrates the cooperation of French cartographers, such as Cassini, and Habsburg artillerists under the leadership of Ferraris

If you are interested in join our panel please send a 300-words abstract to madalina_veres@yahoo.com by February 10th 2012. Also, feel free to contact me if you want to see a more detailed description of this panel.