| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: 1a_The article deals with the development of description of the territory of the present Slovakia on the oldest pre-Renaissance maps of the world or Europe (maps of individual states or smaller territories were not made at that time) made from the 12th century to the end ot the 15th century. The problem is that original versions of a number of these maps have not existed any more, and we only know their later versions or reconstructions based on the preserved coordinates of places drawn on these maps. The first one is a map of the Arab Provenience and it comes from the first half of the 12th century; its author was the Arab geographer al Idrisí living on Sicily. The map was probably based on several older maps originating from various times, and so it probably describes formation ot the Hungarian State in the Danube Basin. Of the particular Slovak places only the names of Nitra and Bratislava, in a distorted form though, are to be found on the map. The oldest map from the Christian environment (so called stripe maps and Bet´s maps) whose primary purpose was to illustrate data from the Bible show specific information neither about Slovakia nor about Central Europe. Another type of the oldest maps is called "circular maps" on which the Biblical paradise is depicted in the middle and the world is around it. This first maps of this type dating back to the second half of the 13th century (so called Hereford map and Ebstorf map) show mountains and rivers running down the mountains in the area of central Europe. The rivers shown in the territory of Slovakia are probably the Danube and Tisa, however, there is no legend on the map. |
