The Collection ‘General Maps of the City of Cadiz’: Use and Conversion of Scales by Military Engineers of the 18th-Century

Abstract

The maps preserved in various national and foreign cartographic collections, that represent the entire 18th-century urban plot of Cadiz, currently comprise twenty-one copies. Together they constitute a sufficiently representative example of the city’s large military cartographic production in this period and of the original collection itself, which probably contained more maps that have unfortunately been lost. This example consists largely of hand-drawn maps based on an orthographic or orthogonal projection in accordance with the canons of urban representation of the time, and summarises almost a hundred years of urban mapping and military architecture that correspond to the city’s enlightened period. Thanks to the detailed account of the blocks, buildings, fortifications, and intervention projects reflected therein, it also constitutes an essential documentary source for knowledge of the morphological development of Cadiz during such an important phase. Due to the number of copies, their plastic quality, the period covered, and the wealth of information, this collection forms a paradigm for urban cartographic production in 18th-century Spain. Most of the collection is in the repositories of the General Military Archives of Madrid, the Army Geographical Centre, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), which contain ten, five, and four maps, respectively.