Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), possibly the first scientist who devised a wireless world, looked at Science as a common service, a way to improve the lot of mankind, not just a means for enhancing wealth (less than ever, the wealth of the few), or to bend to compulsions of market economy. Geomatics and Geoinformation can give very important contributions to many human activities; on the contrary, they can terribly support, in very sophisticated ways, the escalation of armies, wars and destruction, producing negative effects, both in high intensity and large extension.
Maps and Utopia
The discovery and colonization of the New World destroyed the medieval T-O Cartography (Fig.1). The Old and New Testament contained few doctrinal implications for geography: a world consisting of three interlinked continents 
Fig. 1 – Utopia is a linkage of Mundus Novus containing descendants of Noah’s three sons.
In the eyes of some (but by no means all) theologians, a fourth inhabited continent, the Antipodes, would implicitly have denied the descent of mankind from Noah, and the depiction of such a continent was deemed to be heretical by them.
This type of maps is clearly related to the views of Augustine about the City of God: evidently, the will of God has placed Christians at the centre of Oekoumene, as non- Christian peoples are relegated in outer spaces, even at boundary of non-human beings (the monsters whose brilliant and decorative effects cover the margins of the maps).
Vespucci notes that the sub-equatorial lands are full with people, opposite to what the old scholars had stated: “I have found a new continent…and devised to call it “Mundus novus”-in his letters, Vespucci greatly wonders about the life style of Natives, who have no God, no law, no property, no rules for the everyday life, no king, no fear: in fact they live in the perfect state of nature.
Such views have an immediate weight in the intellectual debate, specially rich and fruitful at the time: so, Thomas More introduces in his Utopia lots of hints at what Vespucci said. Raphael Itloideo, the Portuguese seaman, supposed to be one of the twenty four sail-mates of Vespucci, the man who leads the tale of the travel to Utopia, is clearly inspired at the equalitarian society described by Vespucci .
Fig. 2 -Language of UtopiansUtopia is a linkage of Mundus Novus (as found by Vespucci) and the Ancient World. Indeed, Utopia has much of original communities, ruled according to Nature, but at the same time, has a great heritage after her. At Abraxa, later Utopia, are said to have ship – wrecked Grecians, Egyptians, Romans. Also, the language of Utopians is a part of Greek, enriched with Persian and other Oriental terms (Fig. 2).
Also to be quoted are some social attempts, in the light of Utopia, due to Bartolomè de Las Casas, at Cumanà, in present Venezuela, a colonization which is the work of private Spanish civilians and monks, who lead local Indians, the “Misiones del Paraguay” which on a much larger and successful scale, organize ample regions, as far as possible from “civilization”, in view of founding a new type of civilization in which Indians are the essential component.
Bartolomé de Las Casas acknowledged the humanity of the Other, a very difficult position for a European of his century (also of ours, often). Garcilaso de la Vega, son of a Spanish captain and of the Inca princess Chimpu Ocllo, cosine of Atahualpa, is an important trait-d’union between the Spanish and the Inca cultures, in the first time after the destruction of the Andine civilization: his influence over the contemporary philosophical and sociological views is remarkable.
Fig. 3 – A slave market Specially, the idealized vision of Cuzco, the fortress-capital in the high Andes, with its apparent perfection, both in the physical and organizing structure, is impressive for the European scholars of XVI and XVII centuries. American ancient societies had a view of world different from contemporary European (Lewis, 1998): indeed space and time were so linked that map and almanac-calendar were the same thing.
An important Muslim school of geographers and travelers is also active in the Middle Age. This is due to two main facts: the first that the Arabs found the relics of the great Hellenistic culture also in this branch (and passed their discoveries to the Western scholars in due time), the second, and even more important, is the fact that the impressively rapid diffusion of Islam in three continents gave Arab travelers the unique possibility of going over immense distances, feeling more or less at home in countries nowadays distant in culture and in general conditions as may be Sub-Saharian Africa, China, Central Asia …(all those countries were substantially homogeneous in respect to language, religion, general laws, because all these aspects were related to Quran).
One of the usual conventions of Muslim maps, in contrast with the Ptolemy map which has the north at the top, is that the orientation is with the South at the top.
A large rebellion of African slaves in Basra (Iraq) disrupted the power of Baghdad (Fig. 3).
It was in early Iraq where the largest African slave rebellions occurred. Here, were gathered tens of thousands of East African slaves called Zanj. They worked in the humid salt marshes in conditions of extreme misery. Conscious of their large numbers and oppressive working conditions, the Zanj rebelled on at least three occasions between the seventh and ninth centuries.
Fig. 4 – Map of languages of Balkan populations
The largest of these rebellions lasted for fifteen years, from 868 to 883. The Qarmaṭians seized their opportunity under their leader Abū Sa‘īd al-Hasan al-Jannabi who captured Bahrain’s capital Hajr and al-Hasa in 899, which he made the capital of his republic and once in control of the state he sought to create a Utopian society.
The Qarmatians’ goal was to build a society based on reason and equality. The state was governed by a council of six with a chief who was a first among equals: all property within the community was distributed evenly among all initiates. The Qarmatians were organized as an esoteric society but not as a secret one.
From their fortress-city of Mokhtarieh (Autonomia) they attacked and vanquished two Khalifehs, many generals, raised mosques to the ground- all the time increasing their power and prestige.
Mokhtarieh was Heliopolis on Earth. Slaves from neighboring countries flocked to their banner: Turks, Slavs, Persians, Arabs, so that by the end of their 15-year reign of revolutionary rigor non-Africans outnumbered the original rebels.
It is interesting to notice that a similar source in the spirit of upheaval may be seen in the adventure of John Bookman, at Haiti (Žižek, 2010): quite unexpectedly, the inspiration came in this case from Quran, not from Bible.
The development of Geography, as a consequence of better mapping methods, of the growing number of travellers which explore all that remains to be explored in the world, encourages a new type of utopists, the one who dreams over existent, more that on the fancy. A special example is Fourier, who is known as a dreamer over maps, as support for improvements of social welfare.
Kropotkin takes part to the compilation of a monumental work by Reclus (Géographie universelle, 11 volumes): this work is the official birth of modern Geography, and is deeply interconnected with new political philosophy, dedicated to universal brotherhood. In his youth, Reclus had worked in Nueva Grenada (present Columbia): possibly he was there influenced by old memories of Reducciones, also present in the past in that area.
Reclus’ conception of freedom is extended beyond the political into other fields, including economic (Clarck, 2004).
Reclus shows no enthusiasm for topographic maps: as an old anarchist, he knows too well that they are often used for military purposes: he believed that territorial boundaries were artificial. Moreover, he sees topographic maps as inadequate, as they cannot show the third dimension; also they cannot show a good information about human society and history. Noteworthy, Reclus seems to be the first scholar who devised thematic mapping, as is to be seen in the waste production of his maps, even about socio-political issues. (Fig. 4).
Fig. 5 – A map of British Empire
Maps and Power
It is however to be remembered that progress in the geographical knowledge of the world follows regularly enough the explorers coming from Europe and more precisely: the merchants and the armies.
Europe conquers, sacks, offers the Christianity to countries and peoples with which it comes in contact, provided that they have any interesting resources.
Both Ebstorf’s map (1235) and Isidore’s map (1472) represent the conception of Marco Polo and Odorico of Pordenone (1286-1331), the most famous travelers of their age. Marco Polo and Odorico come across the same culture, and their opinions are similar: both think of the “Other” from the European viewpoint. Odo rico says: ”…the men and the women have faces like dogs…”; Marco Polo at his turn: “..the inhabitants are a savage race, having heads, eyes and teeth resembling those of the canine species…” (Fig. 6a).Some centuries thereafter, Sebastian Munster in his Cosmographia Universalis (1544) depicts in similar way Indians (Fig. 6b).
Fig 6a-6b – In the words of Marco Polo (left) and from Cosmographia Universalis (right).
Maps were used in colonial promotion (Fig. 5): lands claimed on paper before they were effectively occupied; maps are a social product, like history, (Foucault, 1967), or painting. While the Mercator projection is very good at preserving angles, obviously it does not preserve areas, so some regions of the Earth are distorted in size.
Post Renaissance maps are the clear depiction of Weltanschauung of Western mankind, sure that the world is at their disposal, as the most active and the stronger in the World. Brian Harley in his basic book “The History of Cartography” emphasizes that the maps of western Cartography are presented as the only true and natural representation of the real world.
However, other representations are possible, due to different needs and to different visions of the World.
The Western Cartography is obviously linked to the Euclidean geometry: as new geometries are now accepted, also new Cartographies can be conceived. These topics were investigated more in depth by Denis Wood (The power of maps, 1992), and other scholars interested to Critical Cartography. Gerard Mercator’s view of the world is so familiar to Westerners that his map is often taken simply to represent what is ‘true’ and ‘natural’. . But on closet inspection the ‘natural’ turns out to be the ‘conventional’, the result of tradition and ethnocentrism.
Three important details show the map’s ideological origins and implications: Europe is at the centre of the world; the map is oriented to the north (so that we look up to Europe and America and down to Africa, South America and India); and the relative sizes of countries and continents are inaccurate: Greenland and Europe, for instance, are presented as larger than they are, South America and Africa as smaller. A correct information passes through a differently conceived Cartography: see the Peters’ atlas (Arno Peters, 1980), edited in the framework of Willy Brandt’s report about North-South. The Brandt Line is a visual depiction of the North-South divide, proposed by German Chancellor Willy Brandt in the 1980s.
Fig. 7 – Arno Peters’ map
This type of mapping is also the result of a cultural and political environment, full with hopes (Brandt, 1980).
Arno Peters, a distinguished historian, has devised a non conventional representation of Earth’s surface: he has divided the whole ellipsoid in 60 equal surface areas, aside of more or less intense human usage. His main aim was to eliminate the “normal” euro-centric image of the world of common atlases, also putting in objective comparison all parts of the world.
ЧТО ДЕЛАТЬ?
A new opposite approach is also useful, precisely when one wants to stress the differences in situation or usage of various areas, neighboring or not: new map families have been developed, for which available cartographical techniques can save the real shape and reciprocal proximity of parts even as the parameter under study involves a multiplication or reduction of areas concerned. For instance, this new approach let us see at first glance, the great differences for a wide range of consumptions in different societies and countries. In a special case, the pro-capita consumption of energy, Holland would appear much larger than India or Mexico. (Figures 8-10).
Fig. 8, 9 and 10 – Thematic map of minor’s work – Thematic map of analphabetism – Thematic maps of families with over 200 dollars daily income / below 10 dollars daily income
In this frame, also culture, in the normal sense of the word, is labelled with a precise market value. So, everything has a money value, from drink water to the access to the highest forms of human creativity, from knowledge, information, communication to life-styles and entertainment.
In the backstage of Techno- utopia is indeed almost ready for use the idea of total control, even is sold as security.
The global liberal order asserts itself as the best of all possible worlds, imposing its own market-liberal utopia: we must apply market and Human Rights and the world will be perfect (Žižek,2007).
In very recent times (In Defence of Lost Causes), the Lacanian psychoanalyst and philosopher Žižek finds that ecological problems, new forms of apartheid (the Wall and slums), the pressure for privatization of intellectual creativity, of natural basic resources (drink water, minerals, wood, human DNA,…) are the huge monsters of our immediate future.
The enormous growth of immense slums of the mega-towns of (specially, but not only) the Third World, pushes a growing amount of marginal, low-salary workers, displaced people from devastated countries, unemployed, and the vast variety of poor in our time, towards intolerable modes of life, and creates premises for immense disorders in the next future. More generally, Naomi Klein (Klein, 2008) shows how super-capitalism at the present stage, is able to make a profit for the market masters even from natural disasters (and in desperate needs for the last on Earth…).
Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), possibly the first scientist who devised a wireless world, looked at Science as a common service, a way to improve the lot of mankind, not just a means for enhancing wealth (less than ever, the wealth of the few), or to bend to compulsions of market economy.
Geomatics and Geoinformation can give very important contributions to many human activities; on the contrary, they can terribly support, in very sophisticated ways, the escalation of armies, wars and destruction, producing negative effects, both in high intensity and large extension.
——————————————————
Tamara Bellone*, Francesco Fiermonte* and Luigi Mussio**
*Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
**Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
References
Attali, J., 2007. Breve storia del futuro, Fazi. Roma
Bellucci, S., Cini, M., 2009. Lo spettro del capitale. Per una critica dell’economia della conoscenza. Codice edizioni. Torino
Brandt, W., 1980. Nord-Sud. Mondadori Editore, Milano.
Cardiel, J., 1988. Las missiones del Paraguay. Historia, Madrid.
Clarck, J., Martin C., 2004. Anarchy, Geography, modernity: the radical social thought of Elisée Reclus. Lexington Books, Lanham.
Colon, C., 1986. Los cuatro viajes. Alianza, Madrid.
Farinelli, F., 2009. La crisi della ragione cartografica, Einaudi. Torino.
Inca Garcilaso de La Vega, 1977. Commentari reali degl Incas. Rusconi, Milano.
Klein N., 2007. Schock economy. Rizzoli, Milano
Las Casas, B. de, 1984. Brevisima relaciòn de la destrucciòn de las Indias. Catedra, Madrid.
Lewis, M., 1998. The History of Cartography. The University of Chicago Press.
Mattelart, A., 2000. Histoire de l’utopie planétaire. La Découverte, Paris.
More, T. Utopia www.deepleafproductions.com/utopialibrary
Palencia-Roth H. (1997): Universalism and transversalism: dialogue and dialogic in a global persepective. In “The East-Western encounter in History”.www.unesco.org/education
Peters, A., 1990. Atlante del mondo. Rizzoli, Milano.
Sahagun B. de, 1983. Storia indiana della conquista del Messico. Sellerio, Palermo.
Swift, J., 1997. I viaggi di Gulliver. Feltrinelli, Milano.
Tesla, N., 2008. My inventions. Stefan University Press.
Vespucci, A ,1984. Il mondo nuovo. Sena e Riva, Milano
Wood, D. 1992. The power of maps. The Guilford Press, New York.
Žižek, S., 2007. The liberal Utopia. www.lacan.com/zizliberal2
Žižek, S., 2009 In Difesa delle cause perse. Ponteallegrazie, Firenze.
Žižek, S., Dalla tragedia alla farsa. Ponteallegrazie, Firenze.
