Technics, politics and “territorial desire” in official cartography in Argentina (1852-1941)

Abstract

The official cartography of Argentine Republic and, especially, the project of a topographical map on large scale, have been the result of a combination of technical possibilities, political circumstances and state territorial policies. Therefore, official cartography has represented not only what is possible from a technical point of view, but also “cartographical fictions” that express the official territorial policies: in the XIXth century, official maps incorporated aboriginal lands that were almost unknown for military, governors, and cartographers and since the middle of the XXth century, official maps include territories where the Argentinean State is not sovereign (Malvinas / Falkland and the Antarctic sector).