Written by Branko Rojc, 1989 The author discusses and evaluates
the cartographic work of J. W. Valvasor. The significance of his
cartography, however, can be assessed only in the context of the
developmental stage of cartography, and of political, national
and cultural circumstances in the Europe of his era. A short
survey of European cartography of the 16th and 17th centuries is
presented. At that time, cartography was still strongly under
the influence of the Ptolemaic system. Among leading authorities
on cartography were Ortelius and Mercator. Germany in those
times saw the rapid growth of the putting-out system and of
cartography in Nuremberg, Cologne, and Vienna. This was the
beginning of slightly more accurate and detailed regional maps.
It was then that the Slovene provinces of that time were first
presented, in more detail, on maps by the Viennese humanist W.
Lazius. Mercator’s map Karstia, Carniola, Histria et Windorum
Marchia was copied by M. Merian, the author of a famed
collection of topographies