ABSTRACT

The purpose of the article is to examine the interrelation between maps and politics in Norwegian railway planning between 1845 and 1908. The author presents a historical discourse analysis with a focus on the Norwegian Parliament. The main finding is that maps were strategically used in the debates on railway construction and seldom criticized. Those with interests in railway building regarded mathematical precision and detailed maps as tools to ‘master’ snow, overcome distances and topographical obstacles, as well as to build the future nation. For these interests, the maps seemed to provide neutral proof of the course that they deemed nature itself recommended. Three main types of railway maps were published and discussed in written parliamentary proceedings: maps of alternative lines, maps of railway networks, and topographic profiles. These maps were both the product and producer of a modern way of describing the earth, namely a ‘technocratic geography’, meaning geography as a call for transformation and a matter of planning. The author concludes that maps and geography were political matters in Norwegian railway planning in the period 1845–1908. Railway politics not only generated new maps and new geographical knowledge but also contributed to a new understanding of geography itself as starting point for transformations.

抽象的

本文的目的是研究1845年至1908年之间挪威铁路规划中地图与政治之间的相互关系。作者提出了历史话语分析，重点是挪威议会。主要发现是，在铁路建设的辩论中战略性地使用了地图，很少批评。那些对铁路建设感兴趣的人将数学精度和详细的地图视为“掌握”雪，克服距离和地形障碍以及建设未来国家的工具。为了这些利益，这些地图似乎为他们认为自然界推荐的路线提供了中立的证据。三种主要类型的铁路地图已在议会书面程序中发布和讨论：替代线路地图，铁路网络地图和地形图。这些地图既是现代描述地球的方式的产物，又是生产者的生产者，即“技术官僚地理”，这意味着地理既是变革的要求，又是规划的问题。作者得出结论，在1845年至1908年期间，地图和地理是挪威铁路规划中的政治事务。铁路政治不仅产生了新的地图和新的地理知识，而且还促进了对地理本身作为转变起点的新认识。