The delimitation of Poland’s border in Spiš and Orava after World War I in the light of archival cartographic sources

The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire led to the creation of Czechoslovakia and Poland, whilst the end of the Kingdom of Hungary’s centuries-long rule over Spiš and Orava sparked a rivalry between the new neighbours to justify and document – including through cartography – their territorial claims to this multi-ethnic borderland. The coexistence in these regions of Poles and Slovaks, who differed in terms of nationality but were identical in terms of religion, spoke similar highland dialects, and prioritised regional identity over national identity, effectively hindered the drawing of precise territorial boundaries.

The aim of this article is to present and discuss selected maps, including hand-drawn ones, obtained during archival research, concerning the detailed course of the delimitation of the Polish-Czechoslovak border in Spiš and Orava in the 1920s. To what extent were these maps an attempt at an objective representation of the ethnic and linguistic structure of the population, and to what extent were they a subjective perception of these regions by the mapmakers, or merely a propagandistic attempt to justify territorial claims? To what extent did the production of expert ethnic and linguistic maps, along with numerous analyses, influence the decisions of the politicians who carried out the final delimitation of the border?