Treballs del Museu de Geologia de Barcelona. Volume 15 (2007) Pages: 81-228

El Mapa Geològic de Catalunya entre el XIV Congrés Internacional i la guerra civil (1926-1936)

Aragonès, E.

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Abstract

The geological map of Catalonia between the 14th International Congress and the Civil War (1926-1936)

The development of systematic geological cartography in Catalonia is studied from the time when the Geological Map Service of the Catalonia Council disappeared until the Spanish Civil War. The period was characterised by the beginning of a governmental project on geological cartography of Spain, the first on a detailed scale, and the failure of the new Catalan authority to re-establish the anterior Map Service. The dictatorial regime under General Primo de Rivera (1923) boosted the cartographic projects of Spain. The Topographic map at 1:50.000 scale was hurried along; this was much needed as the Geographic Institute had only published before 8% of Catalonia sheets since 1875. Also it was decided to substitute the old 1:400.000 scale geological map for a much more detailed map, based on the 1:50.000 scale topographic version. The 14th International Geological Congress, held in Spain in 1926, provided the organising institution, the Spanish Geological Institute, with prominence and prestige. It underwent considerable development and reorganisation and received the economic resources necessary to launch the new project of map. The new cartography was directed from Madrid through a territorial delegate, together with the collaboration of the shortlasting Provincial Geological Institute (1927-1930) that took over the heritage of late Geological Map Service of Catalonia, and the participation of Dr. Bataller as attaché to the Spanish Geological Institute. When the Civil War broke out in 1936, eight sheets of the new map had been published; four others that were in press did not come out until after the war.

When the dictatorship ended in 1930, the new Catalan institutions discussed the convenience of re-establishing the old Map Service, entrusting the studies to the Institute of Catalan Studies. From the start they counted on the collaboration of the former director, Marià Faura i Sans. Although Faura was renamed director and as such carried out some steps to recover his heritage, he was unable to re-establish the Service. While the institutions (the republican Generalitat and the Institute of Catalan Studies) debated over the convenience of continuing the former Geological Map of Catalonia at a scale of 1:100.000 or collaborating with the Spanish project, on the 6th of October 1934 a period of political instablity set in. This was irreversible and the first victim was the self-governing institution in Catalonia, the Generalitat. Faura fell prey to a ruthless campaign that damaged his reputation and at the end of the war, in 1939, he was removed from his post as a civil servant. He died soon afterwards. Meanwhile, the ancient institutions returned and the geological map was continued in the same way as prior to 1930.

Keywords

History of Science, 20th century, Geology, Cartography, Spain, Catalonia

Cite

Aragonès, E., 2007. El Mapa Geològic de Catalunya entre el XIV Congrés Internacional i la guerra civil (1926-1936). Treballs del Museu de Geologia de Barcelona, 15: 81-228

Publication date:

18/12/2007

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