Cartographic reinterpretation of Central and Eastern Europe in the 16th century

ENThe article aims to show the changes in the cartographic representation of “Central and Eastern Europe” that took place in the 16th century. After Ptolemy's findings were revised, these areas began to occupy territories many times larger than originally attributed to them. As a consequence, some states became proportionally smaller against the backdrop of the continent (e.g. the German Reich, France, Spain or the Balkans under the rule of the Ottoman Porte), while others became much larger (above all, this concerns the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within its borders until 1569, the Tsardom of Muscovy and the Scandinavian states). The situation was exceptional in the case of the Kingdom of Poland, whose lands grew disproportionately at the beginning of the 16th century, to markedly decrease in area by the end of the century. It should be stressed that the changes that were taking place had nothing to do with territorial changes, but with a new vision of the representation of the European continent. The resulting maps and chorographic descriptions had an impact on changing the spatial perception of Europe among the elite, although this process was much slower than the development of science. There is no strong correlation between progress and print in Renaissance cartography. Authors of maps were usually compilers of other people's works, to which at most they added information that they had obtained themselves. Consequently, there were visions of Europe developing in parallel; the old Ptolemaic one and the new one, which will be emphasized in the text. Keywords: Renaissance cartography; Central and Eastern Europe; 16th century; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; Kingdom of Poland; Tsardom of Muscovy; Ptolemaic Tabula Europae VIII; Cartographic reinterpretation; Maciej Miechowita; Bernard Wapowski; European Sarmatia; Geographical discoveries; Mythical mountains; Propaganda maps; Worldview syncretism; Geographical empowerment of the Polish-Lithuania. [Extract, p