ALEXANDRU-IONUȚ CRUCERU, De la vechile hotărnicii („ocolnice”) la hărți. Explorarea și vizualizarea orizontului local în trecutul satului românesc / From the old boundary documents (‘ocolnice’) to maps. Exploring and visualising the near horizon in the past of the romanian village

ALEXANDRU-IONUȚ CRUCERU
Dr. în Geografie al Universității din București; Departamentul Catalogare-Clasificare Carte, Biblioteca Academiei Române;
E-mail: ionutcruceru88@gmail.com

Abstract
This article discusses two of the means by which the Romanian peasant explored and visualized the local horizon, respectively the borders of the villages, before 19th Century. In Wallachia and Moldova, as in other parts of Europe, the medieval boundery documents (called ‘ocolnice’ in Romanian) were true descriptions of the environment, there being a custom to writtendown all landmarks from the ground (natural or human made), in a specific order. However, starting with the 18th Century, the way in wich the Romanian peasant explored and visualised space will change fundamentally, as a result of the penetration of maps or estate plans in legal practice. Therefore,
both documents and maps are attempting to enhance people’s perspective on their estates, but in quite different way, namely, within words in first case and by sketches and symbols in the second one.

Keywords
boundery documents, maps, space visualisation, near horizon, Romanian village