La biografía visual de Colombia: el atlas de 1889, leído como símbolo nacional

Maps can be considered texts which we can read and analyse in the samemanner we read and analyse, for example, fictional texts. Bothrepresentations share a semantic structure, since their meanings areintentionally constructed. But maps are not innocent. Like the myth describedby Roland Barthes, maps pretend objectivity and claim to be reality?s true copyand its substitute. Nevertheless, maps are not only reality?s inventory, but alsoits invention. As such, maps can become symbols, and instruments of power, representing a specific idea within a system of thought.Maps can be used in many different contexts. One clear example is the mapsymbolizing the modern nation. The ?Atlas? of the Comisión Corográficaconstructs a coherent spatial and temporal vision of Colombia. Putting intoorder a set of maps, it constitutes a kind of visual biography. It establishesColombia?s foundational narration, its territorial continuity, and the nation?seternal contents and values: Colombia is shown as a country consisting oftwo complementary halves, the mountainous part being the centre of power, and the oriental part the promise of a glorious future.