Political and administrative divisions of Ukrainian lands on the 16th century maps

The author discusses the first maps of Ukrainian lands within the borders of various countries, reflecting their political and administrative division, which were published in the 16th century.

State and administration borders in Ukrainian territories were presented on the map of Southern Sarmatia (1526) by the Polish cartographer B. Wapowski and on the wall map of Europe (1554) by the Dutch cartographer G. Mercator. Maps by S. Münster and G. Gastaldi, including names of individual administrative units without reflecting state and administrative borders, were taken into account. A thorough analysis was carried out of the territorial division of Ukrainian territories on maps in the atlases by A. Ortelius (maps of Poland by W. Grodecki and A. Pograbka), on the maps of Lithuania and Taurica Chersonesus in the atlases by G. Mercator, including their subsequent adaptations. A number of inaccuracies regarding the location of state and administrative borders as well as names of administrative units have been revealed. Particular attention has been paid to the manner of presenting administrative borders.

It was established that in those times no special attention was paid to the presentation of political and administrative divisions on maps. During subsequent editions of maps, no national and administrative borders were updated. Maps could be published without changes for decades. Map publishers often borrowed unverified information, which led to duplication of errors.