Abstract:

Empires and nation states alike used maps to practically and discursively construct territory. Such maps were often intercultural productions, and thus illustrate the role of translation in diplomacy. This article analyzes border-making between and of the Russian, Qing, and Dzungar Empires in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, thus regionalizing Western Europe. This focus shows, first, how linguistic diplomatic actors could be missionaries and scholars, but also foreign prisoners of war. Second, it shows the role of non-textual translation, and the merging of cosmologies and scientific traditions. Finally, this article argues that intertwined practices of diplomacy, translation, and mapmaking had real and devastating effects on the perception of borders and territorial politics in the Central Asian borderlands.

摘要：

帝国和民族国家都使用地图来实际和随意地构建领土。此类地图通常是跨文化作品，因此说明了翻译在外交中的作用。本文分析了 17 世纪末和 18 世纪初俄罗斯、清朝和准噶尔帝国之间的边界划分，从而将西欧区域化。这一焦点首先表明，语言外交参与者如何既可以是传教士和学者，也可以是外国战俘。其次，它展示了非文本翻译的作用，以及宇宙学和科学传统的融合。最后，本文认为外交、翻译和地图制作等相互交织的实践对中亚边境地区的边界感知和领土政治产生了真实而毁灭性的影响。