A távolság felfogásának és mértékegységének átalakulása Franciaországban a 17. század vége és a 19. század eleje között

Absztrakt

The historicity of the report that our societies entertain with the space they occupy is rarely taken into account. The subject of this article is to give an overview of the particular moment of this historicity, offering an additional dimension to this “world that we have lost”. The case studied here is that of the fastest mean of transport of the 18th century France: the horse Post. It is a system of transport made of routes between different towns that work thanks to the existence of a large number of relays on the roads; that allow all travelers to always have fresh horses. Originally, this institution is only at the service of the monarchy, but its use spray widely in the society from the 17th century. This technical network will disappear upon the arrival of the rail. But, beyond this restricted case, this is the question of the report to the measure and to the technical and scientific representation of the space that will be treated. As a matter of fact, the 18th century is that of two major works of geographical knowledge: the Cassini map and the metric system, these two being intimately linked. The tension which will be evoked here is the slow acceptance; even the slow appropriation – even hybridization – of this knowledge valorizes for a long time more the painfulness of displacement than the scientific measure.