The
pinnacle of map-making achievement during Swedish rule was the set of maps
named after Baron Samuel Gustaf Hermelin. The set was compiled as a detailed
summary of all existing maps of that time. There were five administrative
district map sheets that concerned Finland and they were compiled in 1796-1799.
Central Finland ran to as many as four sheets. Hermelin's set of maps contained
exceptionally many place names. In nature it was the GT map of its time.
On Hermelin's maps one can find Central Finland's parishes, villages, houses
and small tenant farms, one can see the roads, administrative boundaries
and waterways of the end of the 18th century. Watershed areas have been
indicated by lines of ridges. Due to its thoroughness Hermelin's set of
maps was a model in Finland for map production well into the time of autonomy.
Only new general maps drawn up as a result of geographical measurements
from the 1840s onwards superseded this last set of maps about Finland from
the period of Swedish rule.
|