European maps of Macedonia before the 19th century
Tymphaios
April 16, 2009
It was common practice in the Soviet Union and its satellites to condemn democratic countries as fascistic and to extol the virtues of one party "peoples democracies". In the mindframe of the Macedonists of FYROM, anyone who may have supported the Greekness of Macedonia is a "lier" and a "propagandist". That includes apparently also the 18th and 19th century Enlightenment and the intellectuals who promoted Greek studies. Among them were the philhellenes Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, George Byron, Percy Byshe Shelley, Eugene Delacroix and many others, many indeed who even died for Greece during the war of independence.
Left with a big void between themselves and the Macedonians who lived 2500 years ago, the FYROMacedonian campaigners, rather than reform their extreme viewpoint, have decided to disprove that Greece has existed. The reasoning is that if it can be proven that Greece never existed and that the Greeks have assumed this name out of the blue because it is presumably nice, then the Slavs of FYROM can assume for themselves the nice name of Macedonia. So according to their proposals, everything Greek was invented either by the modern Greeks or by everyone else, eg. various professors and the philhellenes. These are the views one finds in FYROMacedonian nationalistic websites, such as MakNews. The European intellectuals and the European universities along with the Greeks have conspired to invent history. In an effort to persuade everybody that Greece was an idea thought about by some idle Europeans at the time of the early 1800īs, Stefov and others have recently "challenged" Greeks to show maps of Greece printed before the 19th century:
"And no, the Philhellenes did not have access to a time machine to connect the Modern Greeks to the ancients; they just falsified history to do it. If you donīt believe us then show us a map made before the 19th century showing "Greece" or "Hellas"!
Now itīs your turn!"
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/97898
First of all, one should not stop at maps. There are geographical works of the Greeks and administrative documents that put Macedonia as part of Greece.
"Macedonia, of course, is a part of Greece".
Strabo, VII, Frg. 9 (Loeb, H.L. Jones).
Greeks did not live only in the region of modern Greece and they did not live only in ancient times, they lived throughout history and there are vast volumes of Greek writing from every historical period. Is all that fabrication? Risto Stefov seems to claim it is:
"We know there were no Greeks before the 1800īs and we know 200 years later we have 10 million Greeks. How did this happen? Was it magic? Philhellene Magic perhaps? "
"We" in this case must mean "I". Or else, was the language of the Greek Orthodox Church perhaps introduced by King Otto? Is perhaps the Greek language and literature of Byzantium propaganda of the philhellenes? Did Goethe invent the Greek folk songs he claimed to have translated into German? Had those folk songs rather been German poems invented by Goethe, then translated and taught in Greek to otherwise perfectly illiterate Slavophone peasants? Did Shelley, Perry and Byron only think they met Greeks during the Greek uprising of 1821-1829? Were they perhaps encountering lots of philhellenes masquerading as Greeks? Were the Greek schools operating in Greece only for the philhellenes wishing to learn physics and philosophy in a dead language spoken nowhere on the planet? Were the autonomous principalities of Mani, Mademochoria and Zagori not governed and peopled by Greeks, rather there must have been for centuries a terrible mistake in the Ottoman records? Was it fiction the wave of Greek refugees that fled to Europe on the aftermath of the Greek uprising of 1669-1670? Was perhaps El Greco not a Greek after all?
THE MAPS
Below are the pre-19th century maps Stefov and his friends have asked to see.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
1550 map of Greece by Sebastian Munster
A map from the Renaissance, of the New Greece, Nova Graecia, secundum omnes eius regiones & provincias citra & ultra Hellespontum. It was made by Sebastian Munster in 1550. He was a German Professor at the University of Basel who also produced the first description of the world in German, called Cosmografia.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Ortelius map of Greece, 1581
The Belgian geographer Abraham Ortelius was appointed Geographer to the king of Spain in 1580. At the time the Low Countries were under Spanish control. This map of Greece was printed in 1581. It shows Macedonia, of course, as a part of Greece. It also shows that Greece existed then at least in the minds of geographers, even as it was subjugated to the Ottoman empire. The word Macedonia (MA - CE - DONIA) is written in three lines over the area of Mt Olympus). The map is clearly labelled as a map of "Graeciae Universae", the "whole of Greece".
It also shows Thessaloniki as "Salonichi", the Gulf of Thessalonica as Golfo de Salonichi and modern FYROM as TOPLIZA.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Mercator Hondius map of Greece showing Macedonia 1600-1630
Jodocus Hondius was a Dutch mapmaker and engraver from Amsterdam. This is a map of his, published sometime between 1600-1630 and based on the Gerard Mercator Atlas, an earlier standard, contemporary to the Ortelius maps. The maps became known as the Mercator-Hondius maps. The map is clearly labelled GRAECIA. It shows Macedonia as a part of Greece, at the time subjugated to the Ottoman empire. The word Macedonia in four lines (MA-CE-DO-NIA) is written over the area of Pieria and Mt Olympus. It also shows Thessalonica (not Solun) and its location.
And a slightly later Mercator-Hondius map of New Greece (Nova Totius GRAECIAE descriptio) - Mercator-Hondius-Jansson from circa 1633 by Jansson.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece, showing Macedonia, from 1645
Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638) founded one of history's greatest cartographic publishing firms in 1599. Using skills learned from the celebrated Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, Blaeu set up a shop in Amsterdam as a globe and scientific instrument maker. He soon expanded the business to include map, chart and book publishing.
This map, published by his company after his death, shows Greece at the time subjugated to the Ottoman empire, as indicated also by the Turks in the bottom left hand corner, around the label. The word Macedonia is written in three lines (MACE-DO-NIA) over the western part of modern Macedonia (in Greece). The words Castoria and Thessalonica are also just visible, as well as G. de Thessalonica, the Gulf of Thessalonica. The Slavonic words Kostur and Solun are absent from the European maps. These maps ridicule claims such as those of Gandeto and Risto Stefov that Greece did not exist until 1830. As if one needed a map to find for the first time the word Greece written down. Unless one speaks of a constitutional and free state with that specific name, which is a laughable claim because no country in that sense existed before the 19th Century with the possible exceptions of France and the United States of America.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece 1680
Map of Greece (Hellas) by Visscher, 1680. Based on the Blaeu map. Macedonia is clearly indicated as a part of Greece.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece 1690
De Wit map from 1690. It is also showing Macedonia as a part of Greece.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece 1707
French map of Greece by Guillaune de Lisle published originally for the Royal Academy of Science in Paris. This copy is from 1742, published by Covens et Mortier in Amsterdam. Macedonia is of course a part of Greece.
Detail of the map above showing Macedonia
The names of several cities are visible: Castoria, Veria, Seres, Ceres, Cavalla Edessa and Salonique (French version of Thessalonica), all the original Greek names - not Slavic ones.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece circa 1720
Carta Della Grecia Antica E Moderna - Copper etching from the Italian edition of the atlas by the Academy of Sciences in Paris ca 1720.
An Italian edition from 1862 of a French map by the Academy of Sciences in Paris. The original was issued circa 1720. Carta della Grecia Antica e Moderna disegnata secondo le istruzioni e memorie di molti celebri viaggatori e specialmente del signor Pouqueville. Intagliata da gio. Battista Bordiga, riveduta e correta nel 1862, Milano Vallardi 1862.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece 1745
Carte de la Grece. French map by Buache circa 1745 based on a map by Guillaume de L'Isle (1675-1726) originally published in 1707 for the Royal Academy of Science in Paris.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Graeciae pars Sepentrionalis 1742
French map by Guillaume de L'Isle published by Covens et Mortier in 1745. Macedonia is of course a part of Greece.
Detail of the map to show Macedonia, clearly indicated:
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Ancient Greece 1823
American map of ancient Greece by Fielding Lucas Jr published in Baltimore. Macedonia is of course a part of Greece. No Solun, Costur and Lerin yet.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece 1827
Grece Map by Philippe Vandermaelen (1795-1869) from 1827.
Detail, showing Macedonia.Macedonia is shown within Greece and the word Macedoine is written over it.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Ancient Greece 1827
American map of Ancient Greece by Anthony Finley, published in Philadelphia during the Greek War for Independence. Macedonia is of course a part of Greece.
Detail from the map above, showing Macedonia
The Macedonian cities that exist today retain their original names: Thessalonica, Beroea, Edessa. Skopians claim that the Slavic towns were given Greek names by the Greeks in the mid-war period.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Times Atlas of Greece 1922
Here is the Times Atlas for "Greece and the Aegean" from 1922, Published in the UK by John Bartholomew and Son. It has the word "Macedonia" over the Greek administrative district that bears the same name today. Note, the name Macedonia is not printed elsewhere in Serbia, Bulgaria, etc. The population exchanges between Greece and Bulgaria, according the Kalvov-Politis agreement under the auspices of the League of Nations, were intended to resolve such differences between Balkan nations for all time. For a time, other than Greece, no other Balkan country had an administrative district with that name. But the Second World War gave opportunities first to fascist Bulgaria and later to communist Yugoslavia to lay new claims on Greece and on the Greek administrative district of Macedonia.
The 1922 Times map also has the Greek names for cities such as Kastoria, Florina and "Salonika". The FYROMacedonians claim that the names were changed from the Slavonic Kostur, Lerin and Solun to the modern Greek names in 1926. This map is another clear proof against that tiresome propaganda. The Greek names can be seen in this map detail of Macedonia.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
National Geographic map of Europe 1920
Another contemporary map that shows the new borders in Europe after the Paris Peace Conference. The word Macedonia is written over the respective administrative district of Greece and nowhere else.
Also the three National Geographic maps below include Macedonia as a part of Greece:
National Geographic map of Europe and the Mediterannean from 1915
http://www.maps.com/map.aspx?nav=MS&cid=22,56,95,1619&pid=15776
National Geographic map of Europe and the Mediterannean from 1938
http://www.maps.com/map.aspx?nav=MS&cid=22,56,95,1619&pid=15670
National Geographic map of Europe and the Mediterannean from 1949
http://www.maps.com/map.aspx?nav=MS&cid=22,56,95,1619&pid=15745
Not only is there a Greece in all these maps, covering almost the entire period from the Ottoman conquest of Greece to our own time, but there is also a Macedonia. In the maps prior to 1830, Macedonia is everywhere shown as a part of Greece. Macedonia is not left outside of Greece in any of these early maps.
The pre-19th century maps demonstrate the awareness of the geographers and of the Greeks themselves, of the continuing existence of the Greek language, heritage and traditions that are key components of ethnicity. It is a matter for the Greeks whether Lord Byron or any other become honorary Greeks by making a common cause with the Greek people. There is a world of difference from nationalists of another country, speaking another language, who clearly have a hatred for the Greeks and a dislike for their customs and language (Stefov says about as much) deciding to become Macedonians. Ethnicity cannot be arbitrary. One can become for example an American by living in America and participating in the life of the Americans in a sympathetic way, until he becomes accepted as an American. One cannot become a member of a social, ethnic or national group merely by an act of free will. Even more then, ethnicity cannot be transferred from one people to another as an act of self-determination. Ethnicity is a matter of language, historical and cultural continuity and of common values. Past history and heritage are not a matter of what one wishes they are.
Left with a big void between themselves and the Macedonians who lived 2500 years ago, the FYROMacedonian campaigners, rather than reform their extreme viewpoint, have decided to disprove that Greece has existed. The reasoning is that if it can be proven that Greece never existed and that the Greeks have assumed this name out of the blue because it is presumably nice, then the Slavs of FYROM can assume for themselves the nice name of Macedonia. So according to their proposals, everything Greek was invented either by the modern Greeks or by everyone else, eg. various professors and the philhellenes. These are the views one finds in FYROMacedonian nationalistic websites, such as MakNews. The European intellectuals and the European universities along with the Greeks have conspired to invent history. In an effort to persuade everybody that Greece was an idea thought about by some idle Europeans at the time of the early 1800īs, Stefov and others have recently "challenged" Greeks to show maps of Greece printed before the 19th century:
"And no, the Philhellenes did not have access to a time machine to connect the Modern Greeks to the ancients; they just falsified history to do it. If you donīt believe us then show us a map made before the 19th century showing "Greece" or "Hellas"!
Now itīs your turn!"
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/97898
First of all, one should not stop at maps. There are geographical works of the Greeks and administrative documents that put Macedonia as part of Greece.
"Macedonia, of course, is a part of Greece".
Strabo, VII, Frg. 9 (Loeb, H.L. Jones).
Greeks did not live only in the region of modern Greece and they did not live only in ancient times, they lived throughout history and there are vast volumes of Greek writing from every historical period. Is all that fabrication? Risto Stefov seems to claim it is:
"We know there were no Greeks before the 1800īs and we know 200 years later we have 10 million Greeks. How did this happen? Was it magic? Philhellene Magic perhaps? "
"We" in this case must mean "I". Or else, was the language of the Greek Orthodox Church perhaps introduced by King Otto? Is perhaps the Greek language and literature of Byzantium propaganda of the philhellenes? Did Goethe invent the Greek folk songs he claimed to have translated into German? Had those folk songs rather been German poems invented by Goethe, then translated and taught in Greek to otherwise perfectly illiterate Slavophone peasants? Did Shelley, Perry and Byron only think they met Greeks during the Greek uprising of 1821-1829? Were they perhaps encountering lots of philhellenes masquerading as Greeks? Were the Greek schools operating in Greece only for the philhellenes wishing to learn physics and philosophy in a dead language spoken nowhere on the planet? Were the autonomous principalities of Mani, Mademochoria and Zagori not governed and peopled by Greeks, rather there must have been for centuries a terrible mistake in the Ottoman records? Was it fiction the wave of Greek refugees that fled to Europe on the aftermath of the Greek uprising of 1669-1670? Was perhaps El Greco not a Greek after all?
THE MAPS
Below are the pre-19th century maps Stefov and his friends have asked to see.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
1550 map of Greece by Sebastian Munster
A map from the Renaissance, of the New Greece, Nova Graecia, secundum omnes eius regiones & provincias citra & ultra Hellespontum. It was made by Sebastian Munster in 1550. He was a German Professor at the University of Basel who also produced the first description of the world in German, called Cosmografia.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Ortelius map of Greece, 1581
The Belgian geographer Abraham Ortelius was appointed Geographer to the king of Spain in 1580. At the time the Low Countries were under Spanish control. This map of Greece was printed in 1581. It shows Macedonia, of course, as a part of Greece. It also shows that Greece existed then at least in the minds of geographers, even as it was subjugated to the Ottoman empire. The word Macedonia (MA - CE - DONIA) is written in three lines over the area of Mt Olympus). The map is clearly labelled as a map of "Graeciae Universae", the "whole of Greece".
It also shows Thessaloniki as "Salonichi", the Gulf of Thessalonica as Golfo de Salonichi and modern FYROM as TOPLIZA.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Mercator Hondius map of Greece showing Macedonia 1600-1630
Jodocus Hondius was a Dutch mapmaker and engraver from Amsterdam. This is a map of his, published sometime between 1600-1630 and based on the Gerard Mercator Atlas, an earlier standard, contemporary to the Ortelius maps. The maps became known as the Mercator-Hondius maps. The map is clearly labelled GRAECIA. It shows Macedonia as a part of Greece, at the time subjugated to the Ottoman empire. The word Macedonia in four lines (MA-CE-DO-NIA) is written over the area of Pieria and Mt Olympus. It also shows Thessalonica (not Solun) and its location.
And a slightly later Mercator-Hondius map of New Greece (Nova Totius GRAECIAE descriptio) - Mercator-Hondius-Jansson from circa 1633 by Jansson.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece, showing Macedonia, from 1645
Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638) founded one of history's greatest cartographic publishing firms in 1599. Using skills learned from the celebrated Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, Blaeu set up a shop in Amsterdam as a globe and scientific instrument maker. He soon expanded the business to include map, chart and book publishing.
This map, published by his company after his death, shows Greece at the time subjugated to the Ottoman empire, as indicated also by the Turks in the bottom left hand corner, around the label. The word Macedonia is written in three lines (MACE-DO-NIA) over the western part of modern Macedonia (in Greece). The words Castoria and Thessalonica are also just visible, as well as G. de Thessalonica, the Gulf of Thessalonica. The Slavonic words Kostur and Solun are absent from the European maps. These maps ridicule claims such as those of Gandeto and Risto Stefov that Greece did not exist until 1830. As if one needed a map to find for the first time the word Greece written down. Unless one speaks of a constitutional and free state with that specific name, which is a laughable claim because no country in that sense existed before the 19th Century with the possible exceptions of France and the United States of America.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece 1680
Map of Greece (Hellas) by Visscher, 1680. Based on the Blaeu map. Macedonia is clearly indicated as a part of Greece.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece 1690
De Wit map from 1690. It is also showing Macedonia as a part of Greece.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece 1707
French map of Greece by Guillaune de Lisle published originally for the Royal Academy of Science in Paris. This copy is from 1742, published by Covens et Mortier in Amsterdam. Macedonia is of course a part of Greece.
Detail of the map above showing Macedonia
The names of several cities are visible: Castoria, Veria, Seres, Ceres, Cavalla Edessa and Salonique (French version of Thessalonica), all the original Greek names - not Slavic ones.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece circa 1720
Carta Della Grecia Antica E Moderna - Copper etching from the Italian edition of the atlas by the Academy of Sciences in Paris ca 1720.
An Italian edition from 1862 of a French map by the Academy of Sciences in Paris. The original was issued circa 1720. Carta della Grecia Antica e Moderna disegnata secondo le istruzioni e memorie di molti celebri viaggatori e specialmente del signor Pouqueville. Intagliata da gio. Battista Bordiga, riveduta e correta nel 1862, Milano Vallardi 1862.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece 1745
Carte de la Grece. French map by Buache circa 1745 based on a map by Guillaume de L'Isle (1675-1726) originally published in 1707 for the Royal Academy of Science in Paris.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Graeciae pars Sepentrionalis 1742
French map by Guillaume de L'Isle published by Covens et Mortier in 1745. Macedonia is of course a part of Greece.
Detail of the map to show Macedonia, clearly indicated:
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Ancient Greece 1823
American map of ancient Greece by Fielding Lucas Jr published in Baltimore. Macedonia is of course a part of Greece. No Solun, Costur and Lerin yet.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Map of Greece 1827
Grece Map by Philippe Vandermaelen (1795-1869) from 1827.
Detail, showing Macedonia.Macedonia is shown within Greece and the word Macedoine is written over it.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Ancient Greece 1827
American map of Ancient Greece by Anthony Finley, published in Philadelphia during the Greek War for Independence. Macedonia is of course a part of Greece.
Detail from the map above, showing Macedonia
The Macedonian cities that exist today retain their original names: Thessalonica, Beroea, Edessa. Skopians claim that the Slavic towns were given Greek names by the Greeks in the mid-war period.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
Times Atlas of Greece 1922
Here is the Times Atlas for "Greece and the Aegean" from 1922, Published in the UK by John Bartholomew and Son. It has the word "Macedonia" over the Greek administrative district that bears the same name today. Note, the name Macedonia is not printed elsewhere in Serbia, Bulgaria, etc. The population exchanges between Greece and Bulgaria, according the Kalvov-Politis agreement under the auspices of the League of Nations, were intended to resolve such differences between Balkan nations for all time. For a time, other than Greece, no other Balkan country had an administrative district with that name. But the Second World War gave opportunities first to fascist Bulgaria and later to communist Yugoslavia to lay new claims on Greece and on the Greek administrative district of Macedonia.
The 1922 Times map also has the Greek names for cities such as Kastoria, Florina and "Salonika". The FYROMacedonians claim that the names were changed from the Slavonic Kostur, Lerin and Solun to the modern Greek names in 1926. This map is another clear proof against that tiresome propaganda. The Greek names can be seen in this map detail of Macedonia.
o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o~o~~o
National Geographic map of Europe 1920
Another contemporary map that shows the new borders in Europe after the Paris Peace Conference. The word Macedonia is written over the respective administrative district of Greece and nowhere else.
Also the three National Geographic maps below include Macedonia as a part of Greece:
National Geographic map of Europe and the Mediterannean from 1915
http://www.maps.com/map.aspx?nav=MS&cid=22,56,95,1619&pid=15776
National Geographic map of Europe and the Mediterannean from 1938
http://www.maps.com/map.aspx?nav=MS&cid=22,56,95,1619&pid=15670
National Geographic map of Europe and the Mediterannean from 1949
http://www.maps.com/map.aspx?nav=MS&cid=22,56,95,1619&pid=15745
Not only is there a Greece in all these maps, covering almost the entire period from the Ottoman conquest of Greece to our own time, but there is also a Macedonia. In the maps prior to 1830, Macedonia is everywhere shown as a part of Greece. Macedonia is not left outside of Greece in any of these early maps.
The pre-19th century maps demonstrate the awareness of the geographers and of the Greeks themselves, of the continuing existence of the Greek language, heritage and traditions that are key components of ethnicity. It is a matter for the Greeks whether Lord Byron or any other become honorary Greeks by making a common cause with the Greek people. There is a world of difference from nationalists of another country, speaking another language, who clearly have a hatred for the Greeks and a dislike for their customs and language (Stefov says about as much) deciding to become Macedonians. Ethnicity cannot be arbitrary. One can become for example an American by living in America and participating in the life of the Americans in a sympathetic way, until he becomes accepted as an American. One cannot become a member of a social, ethnic or national group merely by an act of free will. Even more then, ethnicity cannot be transferred from one people to another as an act of self-determination. Ethnicity is a matter of language, historical and cultural continuity and of common values. Past history and heritage are not a matter of what one wishes they are.
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