Captive swedes and the formation of mathematical cartography in Siberia (1711–1722)

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Abstract

After the defeat of Charles XII at Poltava, thousands of soldiers and officers of his army ended up in Russian captivity. Many of them were then exiled beyond the Urals, where they lived from 1711 to 1722. It is the Swedish officers that the beginnings of mathematical cartography of Siberia are associated with. The article analyzes the aspects of the work of the best known Swedish cartographer, Captain Philip Johan Tabbert (Philipp Johann von Strahlenberg) and provides information about other Swedes who engaged in cartography. At the early stage of the formation of mathematical cartography, an important problem was converting Russian linear measures into degrees. Various ratios used by both the Swedish captives and the Russian land surveyors are given. The methodology for longitude coordinates determination was studied based on the analysis of the maps and diary entries, made by Tabbert during D. G. Messerschmidt’s expedition. Indirect evidence of measurements of latitudinal coordinates, carried out by Swedish captives before the arrival of Russian surveyors in Siberia, has been collected. All of this enabled the analysis of mathematical basis of the two manuscript maps made by the Swedes in Siberia. It is concluded that the geographical maps, drawn in the Siberian captivity by Charles XII’s officers, continued the European tradition of mapping Siberia, being a separate stage in this process. What distinguished such maps was that their authors lived in the region they mapped. The Swedish captives became the first cartographers of Siberia, who created mathematically precise geographical maps with a grade grid, rather than hand-drawn, artistic maps. At the same time, Swedish officers’ efforts associated with creating geographical maps of Siberia had no impact on the development of Russian cartography. It was not the Swedes who broke the tradition of cartographic isography but, rather, the Russian graduates of the Maritime Academy who began working in Siberia in 1719.

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About the authors

Vadim B. Borodaev

Altai State Pedagogical University

Author for correspondence.
Email: borodaev_vb@altspu.ru
Russian Federation, Ul. Molodezhnaya, 55, Barnaul, 656031

Arkady V. Kontev

Altai State Pedagogical University

Email: arkkont@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Ul. Molodezhnaya, 55, Barnaul, 656031

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2. Fig. 1. Table of the relationship between the length measures of different countries and the degree of the meridian and the indication of the number of Russian fathoms corresponding to these measures from the Arithmetic of L. Magnitsky (Moscow, 1703. Sheet 300 rev.). Heading of the first column: “In every degree of the earth, miles, stages, or versts.” Heading of the second column: “In each [each of] those miles of geometric stretches or fathoms.”

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3. Fig. 2. Linear scale on the “New Map of the Sea of ​​Azov” by Peter Bergman, 1702. The size of the degree of the meridian is indicated on three rulers: “German 15 miles in a degree”, “English and French 20 miles in a degree”, “Russian 60 9/21 versts in a degree”

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4. Fig. 3. Scale bar on the “New Map of the Great Russian Empire as it stood after the Death of Peter the Great…” (“New Map of the Great Russian Empire as it stood after the Death of Peter the Great…”). Amsterdam. [1725–1726]. Caption at the top: “Length 100 leagues at 15 leagues per degree.” Caption below the scale bar: “or 600 versts at 500 toises [fathoms] in accordance with the new regulations.”

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5. Fig. 4. Map from the early 1720s from the Swedish Military Archives. Titled in Swedish: "Carta öfwer Irtisch Strömmen ifrån Staden Tobolsko ocs in till Contaische Callmukiet" ("Map of the Irtysh from the city of Tobolsk and further to the Contaishin Kalmyks"). Presumably compiled by a captured Swedish officer.

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6. Fig. 5. The title and linear scale in the upper right corner of the Swedish "Map of the Irtysh Current..." It says: "Muscovitiska Mÿlar 104 va een Grad" ("Moscow miles 104 in a degree"). The degrees of longitude from Ferro are indicated at the top of the frame.

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7. Fig. 6. Map of places lying between the city of Tomsk and the Udinsky prison, compiled by Tabbert in early 1722. Conical projection. Fragment with the course of the Yenisei from the city of Krasnoyarsk to Yeniseysk. Degrees of longitude are indicated in the upper part of the frame (presumably from Ferro).

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8. Fig. 7. Fragment of a cartouche on the engraved map by F. I. von Strahlenberg and I. A. Matern “Nova descriptio geographica Tattariae Magnae…”, published in 1730. The size of a degree of the meridian is indicated on four rulers: “Miles German, or geometric, 15 in one degree”, “Versts, or Russian miles, 104 in one degree”, “Versts, or Russian miles, 120 in one degree”, “Li, or Chinese miles, 250 in one degree”

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