The Map of Old Wet Poland: Re-Storying Wetlands

This paper arguments that despite the historical and political contexts of the nineteenth century period and the military intentions of The Map of Old Poland’s [Karta Dawnej Polski] original creators, this source now represents not only the nationhood narrative but also a complex story of wetlands. Due to time constraints and limited resources, the authors did not index forests or other environments in this map, except from aquatic objects. Therefore, we received a rich source containing over 3,700 hydronyms in Polish, including rivers, swamps, bogs, marshes, lakes, and larger bodies of water, some of which no longer exist or are now known only by foreign names. After indexing them for a new digital edition prepared by the Spatial History Lab in the Department of Historical Atlas, this paper envisages how to study such rare cartographical data within the frame of environmental history and the renewed interest in wetland restoration across a drying Europe. Particularly, the eastern parts of the former Polish Kingdom preserved on The Map of Old Poland, stretching from north to south, offer several valuable examples that are case studied in this article.