Historical Cartographies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Region

• In Event: Geography and Geographical Thought on Postimperial Spaces

Abstract

Maps are tools whose uses have changed over time. Initially, they were largely navigational instruments. While they still play a crucial navigational role, maps have also become mechanisms for documenting groups: who is on one side of a boundary, and who is on the other; how many people belong to one band or tribe, or one ethnic group or religious group, and how many people belong to the other. While the ability to enumerate in-groups and out-groups can be useful for planning purposes, it can also be detrimental to group relations, as the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh demonstrates. In this paper, we will begin by presenting a brief history of map-making and maps. Then, we will present a brief history of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenians over Nagorno-Karabakh. Next, we will discuss a collection of maps we reviewed at the Library of Congress. These maps range in age from the late 1700s to early 2000s. They were produced by Imperial-era Russian, Persian, German, French, Soviet, Azerbaijani, Armenian, and other cartographers. And they allow us to trace the geographical imaginations of Nagorno-Karabakh as a region over time.

Authors

• Jennifer S. Wistrand, Woodrow Wilson Center, Kennan Institute

• Edward Christian Holland, U of Arkansas