La cartografía y otras fuentes gráficas para el conocimiento del territorio y del paisaje. Los Reales Sitios en torno a Madrid

Resumo

Researches on the construction of territories and landscapes that took place over the centuries, have traditionally gave priority to written sources over graphic and cartographic sources, while eluded the necessary field work. At this time, it is not possible to deal with such kind of studies from a single perspective, and this fact has significantly enriched the results. An adequate reading and analysis of maps, drawings, and historical photographs permits an objective approach to territorial phenomena, but a subjective understanding of the rural and urban landscapes. However, the use of such sources needs a basic knowledge of the cartographic production, including the use of map projections, of scales, and of cartographic symbolization, among other. It is also important to know how they were applied before and after the emergence of the scientific cartography. Similarly, field work has developed some particular techniques to select and draw the essential geographic features. The current transdisciplinarity of territorial studies is shedding new light on the preceding historical approaches of the Spanish Royal Sites, and particularly on geographic and landscape aspects.