Author(s): Danijel Jelaš / Language(s): Croatian
Publication Year: 0
The cartographic materials of various provenance and purpose are among the fundamental and irreplaceable sources for the studies of historic landscapes. Whether they are maps of larger areas, countries and provinces, or land maps containing information on the use of land in the vicinity of settlements, they represent an inexhaustible source of data to researchers of historical geography, topography, demography, ecohistory, microhistory, economic history, etc. The forests, as one of the most prominent environmental constituents and a key natural and economic resource, are present in all types of maps, regardless of the time of their creation. This allows us to say that all of our knowledge on the Slavonian forests in the past, as well as the potential of further research, is greater thanks to a relatively large number of maps kept in the domestic and foreign heritage institutions. In the holdings of the State Archives in Osijek there are a large number of such sources for the present-day East Croatia, from the mid-17th to the end of the 20th century. They are a part of several archival units, that is, fonds and collections. The most valuable are the maps of East Croatian manors and the collections of land maps of Slavonia and Syrmia. Also, there are a number of cadastral maps for the broader surroundings of Osijek, Virovitica and Vukovar. The Collection of geographical maps contains very interesting maps of Slavonia and topographic maps from the late 19th century. Some other archival units comprise of various valuable and interesting maps as well. Although the aforesaid materials are not entirely unknown to experts, a comprehensive systematic study of the maps has not been conducted yet. This especially refers to the data on the forests of East Croatia.
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