Colonialism in the cartouche: imagery and power in early modern maps

Abstract

The role of maps as tools of colonial control is well known; the cartouches on maps are the places where the cartographer often signals to the viewer his or her interests or prejudices, but the colonialist messages conveyed by cartouches are underexplored. In this article I examine colonialist imagery in several cartouches from the end of the seventeenth to the early nineteenth century both to show the visual vocabulary of this colonialist discourse, and to stimulate further study of cartouches of this type.