Thirteen Overlapping Locational Maps Covering 30 Maps of Elba
Mapping the Island of Elba
From 1802 to 1804 a small team of topographical engineers composed of two geodesists (Puissant and Moynet), one section chief (Simonel), and five topographical engineers (Férat, Audé père, Méry, Oppezzi, and Lerouge) undertook the detailed mapping of the Island of Elba at 1:10,000. In a way it is something of a puzzle as to why an island that was substantially forgotten by the world from the end of the Napoleonic period to the middle of the 20th century (when it began to become a desirable tourist destination) should attract so much attention and warrant such work on the part of cartographers. One thing is for certain: the cartographic team did not regard Elba as a desirable destination: both the topographical engineer Brambilla and the landscape painter Giuseppe Bagetti absolutely refused to be posted there!
But Elba had long attracted the attention of
invaders. Poised just off the coast of Tuscany and within range of both Corsica
and Sardinia, over the centuries it was invaded by Ligurians, Carthaginians,
Etruscans, Romans, Goths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Lombards, Saracens, Turks,
Genoese, Pisans, Spaniards, Russians, Germans, Poles, French, French
Revolutionary refugees, English and, of course, the Barbary pirates. The Pirates
ravaged the coasts on a regular basis (until the French conquered Algeria) and
shaped the settlement geography of the Island. Many of the towns of Elba are to
be found well in the interior of the Island, relatively protected from the
predations of pirate ships. Most of the conquests of Elba had more to do with
larger geo-strategies than with interest in the island itself. Although even in
ancient times the western side of Elba was know for its fine granite. Columns
made of Elban granite support the Pantheon in Rome 
and Elban granite forms the
walls of the Cathedral of Pisa. 
On the eastern side of the island there were
rich iron mines that also attracted invaders. The most productive mine was at
Rio. But little foundries have been unearthed at Monte Orello, Lacona, Magazzini,
Acquaviva, Tre Acque, Fabrello, Procchio, St. Andrea, Patresi and Casaccia near
Portoferraio. The trees on the island were soon destroyed by these foundries.
So, ultimately, the foundries were moved to the coast of Tuscany and iron
extraction alone was carried out on Elba.
For the French under Napoleon, Elba seems to have been an add-on in the Treaty of Lunéville. Although it seems a balanced account of the state of the island in approximately 1804, the nature of the Napoleonic interest in Elba is clear from Casimir Méry’s Mémoire topographique, historique et militaire sur l’Isle d’Elbe. As in the case of northern Italy, Elba was seen as an economy and a society that would benefit from being reoriented to French ways and French interests. As such, there was interest in Elba’s minerals (especially her iron mine at Rio), in the crops grown (especially olives and wine) or not grown (especially mulberry trees and the silk worm, and bees) and how these might be improved.
In any case, it is clear from the history of the mapping of Elba that the Napoleonic military administration was both interested and not interested in Elba. It was interested enough to send the team of cartographers to Elba. It was not sufficiently interested to see that the cartographers were supplied with adequate instruments, enough money to pay for food and lodgings, or salaries. For most of the time that the cartographers were on the Island of Elba they did not have the funds necessary to allow them to leave Porto Ferrajo, where they were housed in the fort, l’Etoile, free of cost by the charitable General Rusca, commander of Corsica. Part of the reason for this treatment, beyond the usual military administrative chaos of the period, may have been that the corps of topographical engineers was undergoing reorganization. It is possible that for the army's financial controllers the corps effectively did not exist. When the topographical engineers at Elba were finally paid in May of 1803, some seven or eight months after their work had begun on the island, they were paid only for current expenses. Once this money was spent on payment of accumulated lodging- and food-related debts, there was once again no money left to go out into the countryside and secure the food and lodging necessary to carry out mapping operations there. The back pay and expenses owed the cartographers was never paid. It is a wonder that the team managed to produce the number and quality of maps that it did.
As we have seen in the case of Rodolphe Schouany, this kind of abuse of the cartographers – and there is really no more appropriate word for it – had significant long-term costs. In this case, the map of Elba was produced, although the island cannot have been as well mapped as it would otherwise have been. But the Napoleonic military administration destroyed the good will and good behaviour of Simonel, who had served well in both Corsica and Egypt, killed Férat through neglect, and also rendered Audé père, Oppezzi and Lerouge sick, also through neglect. Topographic engineers were skilled and committed professionals. At the very least this was a wasteful administration. From the point of view of the men serving it, it was cruel.
All of the fieldwork for the map of the Island of Elba was completed by December of 1803. Although some work on the engraving of the map seems to have taken place in the first two decades of the nineteenth century, it was not until Napoleon had been out of power for 6 years that the map of Elba was finally engraved and printed.