Perception of the Spatial Extent of the Zagora Region in Selected Cartographic Sources

Abstract

The dynamism of sociogeographic and historical processes and trends represents a key factor in the creation and uniformity of regions, and in their image and perception in the eyes of the public and scholars. As a basic geographic concept, a region is the result of all preceding and actual spatial relations arising from natural conditions, and those arising from political, administrative and economic changes. Non-formal regions such as Dalmatinska zagora, which exists solely in the consciousness of its inhabitants, owe their traditional presence in spatial perceptions and identities to a combination of all these factors. The uniformity and identity of such a region are articulated through
explicit and implicit symbols, definitions and terms, and the most important among these is a geographic name or toponym.

As an indicator of basic spatial relations at the time of its making, a map can be used as a source of information on spatial identities, their extent and distribution. In that sense, the presence and positioning of a toponym are the keys to discovering facts about the territoriality and contemporary perceptions of a region that it denotes. The aim of this paper is to monitor changes in the dynamics of perception of Zagora, a region in the Dalmatian hinterland, by detecting the positioning of the toponym Zagora and its variants on several maps created at different periods in history.