and 1857. Flow map drawn in 1859. (“Carte figurative et approximative des tonnages de marchandises qui ont circulé en France en transit en 1845 et 1857.”)
Figure 2-14 shows another cartographic innovation of Minard, a map with pie charts. Playfair invented them, but Minard first introduced them on maps (Friendly 2002). Figure 2-14 shows the relationship between import and export data for French harbors. The size of the pies represents the total transfer of goods in each harbor. Clearly, Minard consider topography important this time because he has delineated the coastline in great detail. Also, note Minard’s approach to the pie-chart sectors. In today’s maps, a pie chart would “start” in the 12 o’clock position; in contrast, Minard balanced sectors equally before and after 12 o’clock.
Figure 2-13 (below). The import of raw cotton in Europe, comparing the years 1858, 1864, and 1865. Flow map drawn in 1866. (“Carte figurative et approximative des quantités de coton brut importées en europe en 1858, en 1864 et en 1865. 1866.”)
Figure 2-14 (right). Relative size of French harbors based on import and export data from 1857; black is export and blue import. The numbers refer to a list of harbor names on the map. For example, “1” refers to Brest and “38” to St. Malo. Diagram map drawn in 1859. (“Carte figurative et approximative de l’importance des ports maritimes français mesurée par les tonnages effectifs des navires entrés et sortis en 1857.”)
The map detail in figure 2-15 presents another one of Minard’s innovations, not necessarily from a design perspective, but certainly from an analytical one. The proportional point symbol map of Paris uses squares to indicate the number of inhabitants living in each district in the city’s arrondissements. Analyzing the spatial distribution of the population these squares help to illustrate, Minard could suggest the best location for a new city post office. The map, far ahead of its time, functions as a kind of spatial analysis. Although less well known than John Snow’s map of the London cholera epidemic, from a spatial-analytical perspective, Minard’s map similarly suggests GIS avant le lettre.
2.3 Mapping 1812
This section discusses a selection of maps that share Napoleon’s campaign to Russia as their main topic. These are split in three categories: maps created to study the event, maps that have been inspired by or give challenge to Minard’s design, and maps that can be considered as curiosities.
Figure 2-15. Detail of a proportional point symbol map from 1865 showing the population in each district of Paris, with the objective to find a suitable location for a post office. Overview as inset. (“Carte figurative relative au choix de l’emplacement d’un nouvel hôtel des postes de Paris.”)
As a historical event
The Napoleonic Wars rank as one of the important episodes in European history, and few events during the conflict were more important than the invasion of Russia. Many of the maps that study this phase of history depict this event, from small annotations in generic history atlases to detailed overviews in dedicated atlases. One of the first maps to illustrate the Russian campaign appeared in an atlas published before Minard’s map entitled Allison’s History to Europe (see chapter 1, figure 1-4).
The maps featured in the next series are all derived from historic atlases. Each of them tells their story using a distinct design. Figure 2-16, published in 1912, relies on the reader to deduce the path of Napoleon’s campaign in Russia from the pattern that the names of towns and rivers create, and therefore does not need to delineate a precise path. Those familiar with the narrative of the campaign can locate the sites of major events, like the Battle of Borodino (see inset) and the crossing of the Berezina River, simply by looking for the places where the density of geographical names increases. The map also lacks any dynamic representation of time.
Figure 2-16. Central Russia during the War of 1812. The map shows the important place names and physical features that played a role in Napoleon’s invasion
In contrast, figure 2-17 introduces a sense of relative time by inscribing arrows alongside the dotted lines that pass along a supporting topography of river and place names (which, like Minard’s map, are spelled in Dutch) in order to illustrate the directional path of Napoleon’s Grand Army. This communicates notions of both direction and order (that is, a start and an end). The map lacks the chronology that absolute dates provide. Still, it constitutes a basic flow line map.
Figure 2-17. Route followed by Napoleon according to a Dutch school atlas.
Figures 2-18 and 2-19, like the previous map, use lines to indicate Napoleon’s path to Moskva. Both maps use different sets of symbology to indicate the French army’s advance and retreat, although both emphasize the advance over the retreat based on choices of line color and line symbology. The map from the German school atlas in figure 2-18 displays dates next to important sites in the army’s campaign, in order to plot its march through Russia. This makes it possible, for example, to derive information about how long Napoleon stayed in Moskva. The inset in figure 2-19, providing a detail from a European overview map from the same atlas, shows the areas affected by the campaign. Looking at the two maps side by side reveals the similarity of their topographic backgrounds. Rivers, for example, possess the same detail. It seems likely that both publishers were aware of each other’s work.
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