Topographical survey of the Rhineland
Topographic survey of the Rhineland (also Tranchotkarte ) is one of the French geographer Jean Joseph Tranchot recorded cartography .
Between 1801 and 1814 the Rhineland was topographically mapped (mapped) on the personal orders of Napoleon under the command of Colonel Jean Joseph Tranchot . After Tranchot's death in 1815, Karl von Müffling continued the project on behalf of the Prussian government (on February 8, 1815, the Congress of Vienna awarded the Rhenish lands to Prussia). The editing was finished in 1828. The work consists of 264 single sheets on a scale of 1: 20,000.
Tranchot
The geographer Tranchot was appointed to the scientific staff of the Dépôt de la Guerre in 1794 . In 1801 , the Napoleonic government promoted him to the rank of Colonel as head of the Bureau topographique de la carte des quatre Départements réunis de la rive gauche du Rhin (Topographical Department for the mapping of the four united departments on the left bank of the Rhine ), which, like similar departments, was targeted for the Mapping potential theaters of war was established. The work lasted from 1801 to 1814.
For the purposes of the client was basically just a high equivalent expansion of the map series of Jacques Cassini in scale 1: 86,400, extended to the departments of Roer , Rhine and Mosel , Saar and Thunder Mountain , which at this time of Aachen , Koblenz , Trier and Mainz managed from were. For the purposes of warfare, Cassini's cards were considered sufficient.
Apart from the development of more modern measuring methods and devices, in which M. Maissiat was often named as a talented employee, Tranchot had always worked passionately to standardize the graphical representation of topographical data, which should also include much more in-depth information of economic benefit. He probably saw his new assignment as the best opportunity to implement these ideas and create a map series that surpassed the more than fifty years older Cassini maps in every respect.
Tranchot and his staff used and developed modernizations for almost all areas of their project. They improved the measuring instruments and methods and invented their own, meaningful design guidelines where they were missing. From 1803, the Dépôt de la Guerre gradually provided topographical and technical guidelines, which also took into account many of Tranchot's ideas and experiences and his colleagues.
For a long time the question of scale was debatable. Initially, 1: 10,000 was set as the benchmark for data acquisition. This allowed a great deal of detail in the representation of terrain, paths and bodies of water with area dimensions, information on buildings, civil, economic and military use or usability, historical development, atmosphere and local features. Above all, the employee Rousseau was entrusted with the determination of the huge amount of data, from 1808 completely alone until he successfully asked for his dismissal due to exhaustion in 1810. His work was not continued after that.
In 1804 Napoleon personally visited the drawing office in Aachen and was angry at the slow progress of the work. In a letter to his war minister Louis-Alexandre Berthier one can read: "Je ne sais pas pourquoi la Guerre veut faire des cadastres" (meaning: "I don't know why the war ministry wants to make cadastre.")
Tranchot was able to achieve that his new work scale was not set at 1: 50,000, but at 1: 20,000. From the end of 1807, however, more and more advance maps were created up to a scale of 1: 100,000, which were based on copies of existing maps, cadastre and hastily determined data. This enabled the other employees to continue the exact inventory on a scale of 1: 20,000.
Three working sections shared the various tasks. Under the direction of Tranchot and his confidante Pigeou, the first section created triangulation triangles of the first and second order. Two further sections dealt with topography and consisted of one or two engineers for surveying and calculation, accompanied by a group of mostly well-trained engineering geographers for geodesy and cartography .
Napoleon continued to keep an eye on the project. In 1809 he doubted the management of the Dépôt de la Guerre after he had been presented with an advance map on a scale of 1: 100,000, which was now too small for him, where from the start he only wanted an extension of the comparatively backward Cassini maps from the During the Ancien Régime had ordered - »J'ai demandé une adjonction à la carte de Cassini et vous me proposez une dimension d'un huitième plus petite. Le Dépôt de la Guerre est mal mené. " (German:" I asked for an expansion of the Cassini map and you put me in a smaller scale. The War Ministry is poorly managed. ")
In spite of all this, by 1814 a series of maps of remarkable quality had been created under increasingly difficult working conditions the further the war progressed in the era. The number of employees was always exposed to strong fluctuations. In 1812 Tranchot suffered an accident. His office had meanwhile been relocated from Aachen to Trier and was closed in 1814 after Napoleon's deposition. The unfinished map series was initially brought to Paris.
Jean Joseph Tranchot died in 1815.
Continuation of the work by Karl von Müffling
At the same time as Tranchot's work in French services, the Kingdom of Prussia employed Baron Friedrich Karl Ferdinand von Müffling with similar tasks. In addition to his military career and enthusiastic participation in the war, he was also entrusted with mapping Westphalia .
During his intensive search for all available maps of his field of activity, he also learned about Tranchot's work and the high quality of his results. Therefore, from 1814 onwards, he tried in vain to get the Tranchots maps published by the French state.
On the Lousberg in Aachen , von Müffling ordered the rebuilding of the so-called Tranchot Obelisk, which was destroyed on April 2, 1814 and re-inaugurated on May 15, 1815. An eulogy for Napoleon was replaced by an inscription against the "tyrant" and in praise "[...] of science and German strength [...]" .
The memorial for Tranchot and his employees was erected in the late summer of 1807 according to the designs of Capitaine Boucher, one of Tranchot's employees, on behalf of the Ministry of War. The monument was a great honor for her work, which motivated and helped to compensate for Napoleon's constant displeasure.
With the second Peace of Paris in September 1815, the maps were finally assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia and handed over to von Müffling in trustworthy hands. He was enthusiastic about the quality of the cards and the Prussian engineers achieved a high level of learning success based on the material.
Active until 1818 and in a managerial position until 1828, von Müffling and his colleagues completed the Tranchot maps with the same meticulousness and according to their own principles, which primarily addressed the geographical representation of mountain ranges differently. The fulfillment of the military priorities was much easier for him, but he also considered the peaceful uses of the cards without any defects.
The recording and drawing office in Koblenz was headed by Major Knackfuß, who was in Tranchot's position and played a decisive role in the graphic representation of the information.
Outline of the map
The overall map is divided into sheets. The usual numbering separates the left bank and the right bank part (suffix r or rrh). The leaves at the boundaries of these subdivisions are usually denoted by double numbers, e.g. B. 93 / 34r for Bonn (left bank of the Rhine) and Beuel (right bank of the Rhine). The structure of the map is not entirely uniform due to the history of its creation. The most noticeable irregularities are the gaps and shifts between the part of the map on the left bank - recorded by the French - and the part of the map on the right bank of the Rhine that was later recorded by Prussia. The original structure had already been disrupted in the course of the production of copies for the Dépôt de la Guerre in 1815/1816 by the fact that the map sheets were cut in half into square pieces measuring 50 × 50 cm. Because the marginal leaves were larger, there were three parts, each of which is slightly narrower than the other. In some cases, the remnants of all things came to lie in the inner area of the card (today's sheets 73-75), so that the card is unevenly divided there.
Reductions
On the one hand there is the reduction of the map in 15 sheets by the Dépôt de la Guerre under the title Carte topographique des Pays compris entre la France, les Pays-Bas et le Rhin 1: 100,000 . It was first published in 1840 and last in the fourth edition in 1870/71.
On the other hand, there is the reduction by the Prussian General Staff with 85 sheets in a size of 41 × 32 cm.
The maps are still useful for historical and ecological research today, as they captured a very precise and aesthetic picture of the topographical conditions at that time. Reprints are available over the counter.
See also
Web links
- Online representation of the maps at TIM-online (only NRW)
- Online display of the maps at Geoportal RLP (only RLP)
- Map of the Rhineland by Tranchot and von Müffling 1803-1820
- The background to the map of the Rhineland by Tranchot and von Müffling in the mirror of an inscription
Individual evidence
- ^ Dorothée Hugot: History of the Lousberg. Lousberg Gesellschaft, accessed January 8, 2016 .