Bloemfontein (1848-2015), mapping eight moments in time: Measuring and appreciating that which is nearest

Abstract

Maps represent more than physical reality. More significantly, they beckon that which is nearest; the life-care-place totality in which lived space is best understood as place, and lived time is best understood as care. This essay presents eight maps of Bloemfontein which synthesise a range of historical depictions; on the same scale and placed in the geographical and ecological context. The result is a series that traces the historical development of Bloemfontein from 1848 to 2015. However, the aim of composing these maps is not limited to the act of mapping. By drawing on Martin Heidegger’s ontological concept of care, or Sorge, it is proposed that these maps illuminate the difference between ‘history’ and ‘historicity’. Care draws life and place into contiguity. More than an act of measuring, these maps tell the story of our appreciation of places as regions of concern.