ABSTRACT
One great dark secret of the history of cartography, barely hinted at in most accounts, is that every map has to emerge from some determinable social and economic milieu. Moreover, the shape the map will take will largely be formed by the needs, tastes and technical accomplishments of that milieu. Frequently, authors write about … [maps] … as if they have come into existence in a sort of social and economic vacuum, as if they were the expression of some Blake-ish pure spirit.
