Prof. A.L. Hickmann’s Sprachen-Atlas [Language Atlas]

“A contribution to the nationalities and languages question in Austria-Hungary” – Title block

This detailed ‘language atlas’ of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was compiled by Professor A.L.(Anton Leo) Hickmann and published in Vienna in 1900 by the prominent firm of G. Freytag & Berndt. At the time, the Dual Monarchy was a polyglot state struggling with the rise of modern nationalism. The color-printed maps attempt to define a complex distribution of languages, ethnographic identities, and territorial claims. The most volatile conflict was that between the Germans and Czechs in Bohemia and Moravia; though Magyarization, Italian irredentism, and the Polish–Ruthenian contest in Galicia are also represented cartographically.

A five-page introduction offers a succinct overview of the political situation, including information about the previous census (1550 and 1890) and an authoritative assessment of the presented results (from the latter). A general map of the nationalities of Austria-Hungary is followed by five regional maps that highlight fractious areas and their majority-speaking populations. Minority cities are noted, though the lack of a sliding scale and the restrictions on the census application (i.e. Jews couldn’t list Yiddish) present a skewed perspective. These nationalistic divides offer a rough blueprint of the geopolitical fault lines that would lead to the First World War.