A case of dislocated toponymy? Thule Island from Pytheas to Cook?s second voyage of circumnavigation (1772-1775).

MARTINEZ, CAROLINA

Sao Paulo (virtual)

Simposio; V Symposium International Society for the History of the Map; 2020

International Society for the History of the Map (ISHMap)

This paper examines the sematic, cartographic and historical transformations of Thule Island in the context of European overseas expansion (16th?18th centuries). A comprehensive approach of early modern world maps reveals the boundaries between the known world and terra incognita were populated with innumerous islands. In principle, their geographical status (i.e. they were islands, not continents) did not necessarily alter or question the existing representations of the known world. In fact, the location of entire archipelagos in marginal areas of the globe, in the hiatus between the known and the expected, was a consequence of the authority attributed to classical voyagers such as Pytheas of Massalia (4th century B.C.), since no modern traveler had been able verify the discovery of these territories. Within the set of plausible islands, because of its particular features, the case of Thule arouses special interest. On the one hand, ancient travel narratives had made emphasis on its benign climate (in spite of its proximity to the North Pole) and the friendly nature of its inhabitants. On the other, its Northern latitude turned Thule into a point of reference for early modern travelers who, in their attempts to reach the Spice Islands, navigated the Arctic Ocean in search of a Northeast or Northwest Passage. Thus, the combination of different sources of knowledge such as classical theories, textual or visual images and travel accounts helped shape Thule into a plausible island, mapped and envisioned by late 16th century cartographers and voyagers. As from the late 18th century, however, Thule seems to have dislocated from its original northern coordinates. The travel accounts of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1771) and James Cook (1777) reveal the toponym began to be associated to the South Seas. In fact, during Cook?s voyage in search of Pars Quinta (1772-1775), as he was about to sail past the Antarctic Circle, the British explorer came across the South Sandwich archipelago. Its farthest island south was named and is still referred to as Thule. The influence of classical knowledge in the naming of unexplored territories (and of newly discovered islands in particular) will be a key feature in the analysis of this toponym?s many layers of meaning.