Mapping the Missionary World: Nineteenth-Century Missionary Atlases with Special Regard to Justus Perthes’s Production

Abstract

ABSTRACT The nineteenth century marked a turning point in the way that European missionary endeavours were mapped. The expansion of missionary societies and their needs brought to the fore the issue of systematization and visualization of data related to missionization. The primary aim of maps was not to mark the geographical features of an unknown region but to quantify missionary activity and its distribution in various parts of the world, thus marking a shift in focus from exploration to statistics. This article analyses the production, reception and distribution of mission atlases during the nineteenth century, with a case study of Peter Grundemann’s Allgemeiner Missions-Atlas (1867–1871), published by Justus Perthes in Gotha, Germany—the first interdenominational missionary world atlas. The appearance of such an atlas illustrates how Protestant societies spread modern Western concepts of mapping and used professionals in the production and marketing of missionary maps.