%0 Journal Article
%T Maps outside social thinking. A few thoughts after an inquiry in the cartographic collection of the National Archives in Krakow
%A Konopska, Beata
%J Krakowski Rocznik Archiwalny
%V 2022
%R 10.4467/12332135KRA.22.009.16849
%N XXVIII
%P 161-176
%K history of cartography, old maps, propaganda maps, independent Poland, National Archives in Krakow
%@ 1233-2135
%D 2023
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/krakowski-rocznik-archiwalny/article/mapy-spoza-schematu-myslenia-spolecznego-kilka-refleksji-po-kwerendzie-w-zbiorach-kartograficznych-archiwum-narodowego-w-krakowie
%X In the history of Polish cartography, it is possible to indicate moments that, under external influences, usually created by the social-political situation, there was a significant increase in the number of map creators and publishers. This was not a long-lasting state, as the authors trying to influence particular events were not connected with cartography in the long term, and publishers extended their offers with maps exclusively for the needs of the moment. One such moment was the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The aim of the article is to characterize the maps issued at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century with the idea of shaping knowledge of the masses regarding former Polish lands, stored in the National Archives in Krakow. It presents the thesis that thematic maps, with content outside the official line of social thinking imposed by the partitioning powers, led to a better understanding by inhabitants of former Polish lands of the idea and process of shaping the Polish state. Attempting to confirm this thesis, reference is made to the fact that a map as a form of visual communication depicts the geographical range and spatial relations on one hand, while on the other it helps to maintain a feeling of national identity when presenting borders and regions, which a given society identifies with, is impossible or inconclusive. The article uses sources from the cartographic collection systematically gathered by the National Archives in Krakow.