a fantastic old map i found - paris 1759

[jigsaw]

i dont know if this is the right area, this is my first time talking non-sc4 on these forums... but i felt i just had to share it with other city-builders like myself.

i love reading history. i read about anything and everything when it comes to history. yesterday i was reading about the history of Paris, and the old Monarchs etc.. and i came across this old map of Paris by Cassini.

i was mesmerised. it is a large file, but the detail is incredible. with this map i can see how modern paris has become what it has today.

this map of paris shows the city as it was, pre-suburban, pre-industrial era, pre-railways, pre-automobiles. this is farming, trade, horse and wagon france.

here is the ref for the picture. it's 8MB

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carte_de_Cassini_Paris_BNF07711505.jpg

if you zoom in and study it, you can see how geography, bridges, and villages, churches influence the roads and tracks. you can see how the churches must of been visual checkpoints of the evolution of the roads. you can see that bridges influenced cities, or cities influenced bridges.

you can also see in great detail how the dammed up a lot of small streams for water supply. every city/village/town has a stream or river running through it, but there is also a dam nearby. the cities lay out there is distinctly Parisian, and this would be the nursery of how Napoleonic Paris would have been designed.

there is lots of churches by the river. in fact there is a lot of churches period.

Paris itself is not a big place in the era. it must of been solely more of a trade/government area, as the villages and town are significantly larger in area, but would be of a lower density no doubt.

and i could go on, and on....

basically, im going to make my next region inspired by this map. this is by far the best guide i have come across on how to make a Old Euro/ agricultural region look proper, and realistic. just to see how spread out, and networked the city and villages are, and how a fewer bridges influence roads. im going to make sure there is a lot more water in my regions to establish my towns on.

i hope you like it

[thingfishs]

that is an impressive map jigsaw, thanks for linking. I'd be interested to see what you end up with. I myself am using maps of a different kind (google maps) for my latest region and am copying the city street for street, with identical zoning and placement of civics/power/airports etc. It's quickly resulting in the most authentic feeling city I've ever had; I think there's a lot to be gained from studying real life resources like this.

[Girafe]

Yes it's a very interesting map, names have not changed since then but today villages which were close to Paris are nowadays include to the city or suburbs   

I will wait surely what you will do with this map 

[jigsaw]

for the record i will not copy the map at all. i just want to use it as a inspiring guide to my next region. if you study that map there are some fundamental 'trends' that occur in regards to how it grows. i will use those trends in making my own region.

back to the map, i have been wondering why some roads have the dots next to them and some dont. i did some looking around and one suggestion is that these were the first cobblestone roads, and maybe the first roads with lamps/lighting.