In
the national archives there are large parish maps of Laukaa, Saarijärvi
and other parishes. While matters related to taxation featured prominently
in country assessor's records, parish maps contain information which is
of interest historically. They are so-called text maps; the maps contain
ample clarifications of the soil quality, distances and other geographical
matters. Parish maps would have information on the population, roads, shipping
lanes, waterways, rivers, islands, border posts etc. Inasmuch as the maps
are large scale and every effort was made to depict each parish as one entity
the maps became enormous. For instance the map of Saarijärvi measured
approximately 2 x 3.5 metres. In addition to the maps of the large parishes
of Saarijärvi and Laukaa, which nowadays comprise several municipalities,
the mapping work in the middle of the 18th century also touched upon the
chapel of Kuhmoinen, Korpilahti, Muurame and Hankasalmi. In practice, parish
maps cover the whole of Central Finland except for Jämsä and Keuruu.
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