Travels with or without road maps?
Carl Linnaeus's journeys to Swedish provinces (1732-1749)
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In May 1732, at the age of 25, Carl Linnaeus embarked on a journey to Lapland, the northernmost part of Sweden. The Lapland journey was to become the first in a series of five exploratory journeys to Swedish provinces: Lapland in 1732, Dalarna in 1734, Öland and Gotland in 1741, Västergötland in 1746, and Skåne (the southernmost part of Sweden) in 1749.
Maps of varying design and quality accompanied three of the printed reports, viz. Dalarna, Öland and Gotland, and Skåne. Linnaeus assigned the maps of Öland, Gotland and Skåne to Jacob Faggot. Faggot at this time was Inspector (and subsequently Surveyor-general) at Lantmäterikontoret (Office for Land Survey and Mapping) in Stockholm. He is not known to have produced any maps himself and he did not make any references to these contributions in any of his written works. The printed maps do not disclose the names of the originators.
The Linnaean Society of London owns the diaries (manuscripts) and some associated maps including:
Iter Lapponicum: …a map of the River Torne with its rapids (“Törnöö Elff med sine forser”) by O S Naucler, 1660, and a map designed by Linnaeus showing northern Scandinavia and the route he took
Iter Dalecarlicum: ...with a printed map at the beginning...and a manuscript map
Iter Oelandicum: [no map]
Iter Gothlandicum: [no map]
Iter Vestrogothicum: [no map]
Iter Scanicum: [no map]
The printed Linnaeus / Faggot map of Skåne is very detailed and hence potentially useful for orientation. The printed map of Öland shows the existing main roads running around most of the island and near to the coastline.
If intended as a road map, it is astonishing that the printed map of Gotland does not show any of the main roads, all running radially from Visby - the only town on the island - and leading to main harbours around the island. All but four of the ninety plus parish churches on the island are shown, possibly indicating possibilities for board and lodging. If, on the other hand, the map was reconstructed after the journey, the creator of the map and the author of the report must have had communication problems leading to several remarkable deviations from the described travel route. Maybe the most probable solution is that Linnaeus sometime between the journey to Gotland in 1741 and the publication of the travel report in 1745 decided to include a map - a novelty at the time - to make the report more complete, resulting in a map as a mere decoration.
Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)
Jacob Faggot (1699-1777)
Linnaeus's expeditions in Sweden (modern map)
As Linnaeus saw it - a Skansen tour through the landscapes of Sweden
Summary of major events
1709 Publication of Peter Olofsson Warnmark’s ’Then Swänske Ulysses’, a guide to the Swedish provinces [without a map]
1726 Jacob Faggot employed by the Royal Office of Land Survey in Stockholm [Lantmäterikontoret]. Faggot remains there until his death in 1777
1730 The Royal Office of Land Survey [Lantmäterikontoret] is commissioned to map out trafficable roads, inns and post offices in all Swedish provinces
1732 Linnaeus’s journey to Lapland; Lapplandsresan; Iter Laponicum
1734 Linnaeus’s journey to Dalecarlia; Resan till Dalarna; Iter Dalecarlicum
1735 Lifting of the previous prohibition to publish maps from or based on the collections of the Royal Office of Land Survey [Lantmäteriet]
1736 Jacob Faggot is appointed inspector at the Royal Office of Land Survey [Lantmäterikontoret]
1739 Carl Linnaeus and Jacob Faggot elected as fellows of the Royal Academy of Sciences [Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien]
1739 Georg Biurman appointed head of the printing works of the Royal Office of Land Survey [Lantmäterikontoret]
1739 The Royal Office of Land Survey [Lantmäterikontoret] initiates the printing of provincial maps
1741 Linnaeus’s journey to Oeland and Gotland; Resan till Öland och Gotland; Iter Oelandicum and Iter Gotlandicum
1741 Jacob Faggot appointed Secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences [Kungliga Vetenskaps-akademien] 1741-1744
1741 The Royal Academy of Sciences publishes Jacob Faggot’s proposal on surveying and description of the fatherland [’Tankar om fäderneslandets känning och beskrivande’]
1742 Jacob Nordencreutz’s road map [Chartebok öfver Landsvägarna uti Svea och Göta Riken, ‘Vägkarteboken’] published by the Royal Office of Land Survey
1743 Georg Biurman’s guidebook and road map of Sweden and Finland [Vägvisare til och ifrån alla Städer och namnkunnige orter uti Svea- och Göta- Riken samt Stor-Förstendömet Finland jämte tvänne uti koppar stuckne Väg-Chartor] published with an approbation by Jacob Faggot
1745 Carl Linneus’s written account of the journey to the islands of Öland and Gotland published with maps of both islands dedicated to Jacob Faggot
1746 Linnaeus’s journey to Wästergötland; Wästgötaresan; Westrogothicum
1747 Jacob Faggot appointed director and head of the Royal Office of Land Survey [Lantmäterikontoret]
1747 Jacob Faggot delivers a speech as chairman of the Royal Academy of Sciences [Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien] on the history of the Swedish land survey and geography
1747 Georg Biurman’s map of Sweden and Finland published
1749 Linnaeus’s journey to Skåne (Scania); Skåneresan; Iter Scanicum
1751 Carl Linnaus’s written account of the journey to Skåne published with a map of Skåne dedicated to Jacob Faggot
1752 Georg Biurman’s map of Skåne published
Selected literature in English
Bengtson G, Carl Linnaeus in Skåne, 1999
Casson A, The Dalarna Journey together with the Journey to Mines and Works, Gullers Förlag, 2007
Douglas G, Travels, Catalogue of all manuscripts relating to the travels of Linnaeus, The Linnean Society of London, 10 January, 2007 (personal communication)
Friberg N, A province-map of Dalecarlia [Dalarna] by Andreas Bureus ?, Imago Mundi, Vol 15, 1960, 73-83
Graves P, The Lapland journey, 1995
Johnsson M, Linnaeus in Gotland – from the diary at Linnaean Society, London, to present- day Gotland, [translation from Swedish by Eivor Cormack], 2007
Koerner L, Nature and Nation in Linnaean Travel, Ann Arbor, Michigan (USA), 1994
Koerner L, Linnaeus: Nature and Nation, 1999
Linnaeus´Journey to Öland and Gotland 1741, translated from Swedish by Marie Åsberg and Willliam T Stearn, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (London), Vol 5, Nos 1 and 2, 1974
Linnaeus Öland and Gotland Journey 1741, edited by John Edmondson, [translated from Swedish by Marie Åsberg and William T Stearn], 2007
Packham J R and Moberg R, In the Footsteps of Linnaeus - Lapland 1988, 1989
The Lapland Journey, edited and translated by Peter Graves, Lockharton Press, 1995
Travels / Carl Linnaeus, edited by David Black and illustrated by Stephen Lee, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1979
Home [please note that all other texts are in Swedish only]
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