Cartography in translation between Ouro Preto and Gotha, c.1850–1860

Abstract

Based on archival research, this article analyses the publishing history of the map of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in the Petermanns Mitteilungen journal. Commissioned by the provincial government between 1836 and 1855, this map was drawn up by two German army officers who had emigrated to Brazil. In 1859 the Swiss naturalist Johann Jakob von Tschudi acted as an intermediary between the Brazilian authorities and the German publishing house Perthes in Gotha. The editorial process reflects both the transatlantic circulation of maps and geographical knowledge and the creation of a global community of map readers and users in the German-speaking context in the mid-nineteenth century.