She starts to draw...- A crescent!.- The moon! - Turn the page, I can't see a thing...- 𝗟𝗲 𝗟𝗲́𝗺𝗮𝗻! In the shape of an upside-down crescent, with the left point pointing downwards, it's our lake! This representation of the lake is taken from the cartography. 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝗲́𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝘂 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗲́𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲. The oldest surviving cartographic representation is the one on the 𝗧𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿, dating from Antiquity and copied during the Renaissance. It features Lake Geneva in small among the main roads and towns of the Roman Empire. On this map, it is called 𝗟𝗮𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝗮̀𝗻𝗲̀𝘁𝗲𝘀 (𝗟𝗮𝗰 𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗶𝘀) 𝗲𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲̀𝗱𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗶̈𝗱𝗲.
The first regional maps centred on French-speaking Switzerland and Savoy emerged during the Renaissance. They include the 𝘓𝘢𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘓𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘴 map by 𝗦𝗲́𝗯𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻 𝗠𝘂̈𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 (𝟭𝟱𝟰𝟰) and the 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶 𝘓𝘢𝘤 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘺𝘴 map by 𝗝𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝘂𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗱 (𝟭𝟱𝟴𝟴).Anecdotally, he included a list of 𝟭𝟵 𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲̀𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 - plus crayfish and lake oysters - that populated Lake Geneva at the time.
In 𝟭𝟲𝟬𝟱, 𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗚𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘁 was inspired by these two representations of Lake Geneva, Münster's "tadpole" and Duvillard's "heart", to depict the lake in a shape that resembles a crescent...or a smile!
Indeed, Goulart's training as a theologian plays a part in the orientation of the map - towards the south-east, i.e. Jerusalem. This so-called sacred orientation was common in the Middle Ages, but rarer in the 17th century. It offers us the perspective of "Leman-smile".
The Lake Geneva crescent was subsequently refined and defined by technical inventions (triangulation in particular) and cartographic codes (north up, scale, right of way, legend, etc.) until it became established in the collective imagination.
While the actual shape of Lake Geneva was for a long time the focus of the cartographer's work, today the map is an aid to understanding and decision-making. In other words, "we are moving from a logic of representation of geographical information to a logic of geographical representation of information" (Joliveau, Noucher, Roche, 2013).
Source of information : Lémaniques 111, Le Léman digital version, Lémaniques 98, Lake Geneva from top to bottom and Joliveau, Noucher, Roche (2013), "La cartographie 2.0, vers une approche critique d'un nouveau régime cartographique", L'information géographique
Photo credit : Caninger table, Map of S. Münster (1544), Card by J. Duvillard (1588), Map by J. Goulart (1605),
