The first cartographic representations on the cities of the Balearic Islands

Abstract

This presentation is centered on an overall view of the historical background on which the first cartographic images of the cities of the Balearic Islands are based. Initiated at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the fortification of the main urban centers of each island, which were vulnerable to attacks from the exterior, has contributed to the oldest cartographic documents of the Balearics. The objective is to trace back to the method used to make the respective drawings as well as the first maps up to the beginning of the seventeenth century. Among the different authors, it is worth mentioning Giovan Battista Calvi, the Fratino brothers, Antoni Verger or Joan Baptista Binimelis among others. The preserved graphic material contributes to know and analyze the context and the bases on which it was possible to present the first cartographic representations of the cities of the Balearics, particularly in the case of Eivissa, Ciutat de Mallorca as well as Maó and Ciutadella
de Menorca.

Keywords: Cartography, Poliorcetica, Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza.