Towards a Digital Cartography: Methods and Techniques for Reconstructing Administrative Spaces (ca. 1000–1800)

Abstract

One of the most interesting technical innovations to emerge in the field of history over the past two decades—within what has come to be known as the Digital Humanities—has been the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which, as is well known, have a longer tradition both within academia (albeit in other disciplines) and especially outside of it.

In the particular case of Medieval and Early Modern History—the periods referenced in the title of this special issue—these fields have been relatively late adopters of this methodology, more so the latter than the former. However, over the years, there has been a growing number of publications in which, in one way or another, spatial georeferencing tools such as these have been applied.