Ragusa

Separately issued folding map of the region around Ragusa or modern Dubrovnik in Croatia. From San Stefano (Sveti Stefan) in Montenegro in the south to Metkovic in the north.



This map was published by the K.u.K. Militärgeographisches Institut, the geographical arm of the Austro-Hungarian military. The date 1877 is highly significant as the whole region of the Balkans was undergoing enormous turmoil due to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8. This in turn led to the pivotal Treaty of Berlin (1878) which established this region's peculiar geo-political position: it technically remained part of the Ottoman Empire, yet all administrative and civil government decisions were made by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.



This is just one section of a much larger map of the Balkans (Karte der Balkanländer) produced on a 1:300,000 scale by the Austro-Hungarian government to establish and maintain control of this region. The map was frequently updated as political boundaries changed. The price listed for this individual map in the lower left corner suggests that the military survey was available for sale to the public, much like Britain's Ordnance Survey maps.



Original hand colour. SL [CEU22236]