A Story To Tell: Seeing Through the Minds of Two Admirals
- Eda Ozyesilpinar -
The Meaning of the Reis Map: The Impact of Socio-cultural Context and Bodily (Human) experiences
The formal elements of the map, how the socio-cultural context and the individual experiences shaped the meaning and the structure of the story Reis tells through his map, illustrate how the Reis Map of 1513 functions as a heterotopia. As a whole, both the socio-cultural context of Reis and Columbus and the individual, bodily experiences of these two admirals in relation to the Americas shaped the visual structure and the meaning of the map. After five hundred years, this map still functions as an authentic and mysterious piece through its characteristic elements as a portolan chart and its use of color; images such as ships, animals, and natives tell the story of the great discoveries of the 16th century with a specific focus on Columbus. In addition, these images and the verbal explanations Reis provided in his marginal notes regarding Columbus’s perception (from a Western socio-cultural context) and experiences shaped the meaning of different places in the Americas and revealed the socio-cultural structure of the natives of this land.
Through the story it tells, this map functions as a timeline connecting its audience to history, specific events back in time which had a huge impact in the structure of the map: great discoveries of the 16th century. In this sense, this heterotopic space also appears to illustrate heterochrony. Propen (2012) considers maps as heterotopic spaces, which is why she suggests “that maps, as heterotopias of time, may be linked to ‘“slices of time”’, or heterochronies, at specific cultural moments during which there is a perceived need for social or environmental change” (p. 164). Reis does an excellent job in visualizing this timeline by telling the story of the great discoveries of the 16th century. Through detailed visual representations of the New World and his marginal notes, Reis brings a sense of realness into the story of his map. He includes the human life experiences (of discoverers and natives) and presents the geographical and cultural texture of America for his audience. He tells a real story for his audience with the intention of visual presentation: “this could be classed as a presentation of the Age of Discoveries, a genre that is broader in scope, both geographically and historically, than the static, conservative Mediterranean portolans” (Soucek, 1992, p. 50-51). As a result, through the use of the portolan style to draw this map, and smart use of colors, images, and the textual elements, this authentic visual artifact presents the story of discoveries that took place during that time period by creating visual unity and coherence for its audience, both past and present.