The First Military Survey of Hungary (1780-84)

The Josephinian Land Survey (German: Josephinische Landesaufnahme) was the first comprehensive land survey and mapping of the Habsburg Empire. The survey was ordered by Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa after Austria’s defeat in the Seven Years’ War. It was conducted from 1763 to 1787, concluding in the reign of Emperor Joseph II. The maps are currently stored in the National Archives of Austria.

You can have a breath-taking look into it if you visit the page of Arcanum:

https://mapire.eu/en/map/europe-18century-firstsurvey/?layers=163%2C165&bbox=1323103.08768372%2C5726049.856437179%2C3063421.347680613%2C6337546.082718589

Whether you are interested in researching your family or the history of Hungary, you can find tons of digitalized materials to your research there:

https://adtplus.arcanum.hu/hu/

After the liberation of Hungary from the Ottomans, a good military map was badly needed. The work was carried out by 60 officers, they were able to complete the mapping of about ten square-kilometers a year on average. The Survey was led by Andreas von Neu who began the work in Upper-Austria between 1769-1772 and continued it in Lower-Austria between 1773-1781. When he arrived in Hungary, he was appointed as a Colonel and worked between 1782-1784. Later, he took part in surveying lands and fields for the Emperor between 1768-88 and finished his military career as a Vice-General. 

The Survey covered an area of 178 180 km² and paved the way to the Second and to the Third military survey. In the first survey, Tirol and the western parts of Austria were not included. Also, the map was a secret document.

I would like to express my thanks to the Arcanum for helping my work so much by giving me access to its database. Please, check out its FB page as well:

https://www.facebook.com/arcanumkft/

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