[HistMap-List] Eighth Imago Mundi Prize Awarded

[Török Zsolt Győző]

EighthImago Mundi PrizeAwarded

The Directors of Imago Mundi Ltd aredelighted to announcethat the eighth Imago Mundi Prize has been awarded to Mario Cams for ‘Not Justa Jesuit Atlas of China: Qing Imperial Cartography and ItsEuropeanConnections’ which appeared in Imago Mundi69:2 (2017): 188-201. Dr Cams is Assistant Professor in theDepartment ofHistory at the University of Macau.

The successful article provides a thoroughand originalreinterpretation of an early 18th century atlas of Qing China'sterritories,including Korea and Tibet. This atlas had traditionally beenassumed to be thework of European missionaries, implanting European traditionsinto Chineseculture, but the paper persuasively argues that the atlas infact represents amore complex integration of different cultures and methods. Thekey argumentsto support the idea of hybrid practices are clearly stated andwell-structured,resting upon a detailed examination of surveying techniques,measurement andthe production of the atlas. For example, whilst some Europeanscientificpractices were copied, the measurement of an accurate base linefortriangulation was not, and the traditional Qing measurement ofroad distanceswith ropes was retained and developed. The resulting atlas alsoexists in anumber of forms for different audiences, printed using bothwoodblock andcopperplate techniques, and impossible to def
 ine as simply‘traditional’ or‘scientific’. This creative integration of different practicesallows broaderconclusions to be made on shared knowledge and the culturaltransfer of ideas. By understanding the atlas as a significantexample of earlymodern state-sponsored cartography, the important politicalpurposes behind theQing atlas in terms of frontier management and control ofterritory are alsorevealed through a clear description of the historical andgeographicalcontext. This period was one of unprecedented imperial expansionfor the QingEmpire, and the new atlas allowed the Chinese court and elites,as well as awider European readership, to visualise the growing extent andsignificance ofthe Qing Empire. The paper also impressed the judges in itsresearch processand methodology, its international perspective, and in itsencouragement tofurther work in this area.

The ImagoMundiprize is offered every two years. This award covers Volumes 69(2017) and 70(2018). The winning article is the one judged ‘to have made themostsignificant contribution to the discipline’. Only full-lengtharticles, whichare automatically subjected to the (anonymous) externalrefereeing processbefore acceptance for publication, are eligible for the prize. The prize is $1000 and qualifies therecipient for a J. B.Harley Travel Award to the biennial International Conference onthe History ofCartography (Amsterdam, 14-19 July 2019). The Imago Mundi Prize is generously sponsoredby KennethNebenzahl.

By courtesy of our publishers, RoutledgeJournals (Taylor& Francis), Mario Cam’s article is being made available freeof charge at https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rimu20/current.

TonyCampbell

Chairman,Imago MundiLtd

 
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