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Sixteenth-century Venetians decorated the walls of their homes with maps as well as pictures of all kinds. A large corpus of inventories of household goods records the location of these wall decorations and, together with books offering advice on the display of maps, provides evidence that maps were intentionally placed in the most public spaces in the house. The manuals also confirm the impression gained from the inventories that the maps were valued for their ability to construct a public identity for the owner. They were versatile objects that could demonstrate that the owner was a cultured, cosmopolitan man educated about the world, reinforce his professional or trade standing, or enhance a military persona, all to the glorification of the family name.

Early probate inventories, an under-used source in the history of cartography, can provide an insight into sixteenth-century map ownership. Those from the Vice-Chancellor's Court at Cambridge, for example, are sufficiently detailed in many cases to show how the university towns of England must have comprised a distinctive map market, how there were different categories of map owners within the university ambit, what maps were bought, and for what purpose. A number of the maps and atlases can be identified and the existence of lost maps confirmed.

Immense land-cover changes in Iceland over the last millennium have encompassed birch (Betula pubescencs) woodland depletion and extensive soil erosion; few studies have focused on spatial distribution change of birch woodland in Iceland over centuries. The main objectives of this study were to (1) map the changes of birch woodland cover in (thorn)jorsardalur (14,000 ha) in southern Iceland, over a period of 350 years from late sixteenth to early twentieth century, and (2) explain the impact of socio-economic and natural forces on the woodland cover over three periods: 1587-1708, 1708-1880 and 1880-1938. We used a combined approach of historical reconstruction from diverse written archives, GIS-techniques and field work. About half of the (thorn)jorsardalur valley was covered by birch woodland in the late sixteenth century but over a period of 350 years 94 % of woodland had been depleted. The woodland was intensively used for firewood and charcoal making during the period with limited land management restriction. The main driving force for this development was socio-economic, where the form of ownership was a fundamental factor for the fate of the woodland. Harsh climate and volcanism further exacerbated the woodland during times when it had become fragmented and beyond its state of recovery. Adapted from the source document.