Defending Europe: Habsburg Military Cartography of the Croatian Borderland

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the development of Habsburg military mapping in the area of the Croatian borderland as well as in neighboring Bosnia in the period of the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars from the mid-16th to the late 18th century. We demonstrate how military maps were created, who compiled them, which data collection strategies were applied apart from the survey, what was the subject of mapping, what types of maps were produced and how, given their status of secrecy, they influenced the development of military cartography in general.