page_title: Lake Constance
section_title: Historical maps
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Constance / History / Historical maps
caption_attribution_description: Lacus Constantiensis XX TAB NOVA
context_page_description: Lake Constance refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: the Obersee or Upper Lake Constance, the Untersee or Lower Lake Constance, and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein. These waterbodies lie within the Lake Constance Basin, which is part of the Alpine Foreland and through which the Rhine flows.
  The lake is situated where Germany, Switzerland, and Austria meet. Its shorelines lie in the German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau, and Schaffhausen, and the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The Rhine flows into the lake from the south, with its original course forming the Austro-Swiss border, and has its outflow on the Lower Lake where — except for Schaffhausen — it forms the German-Swiss border until the city of Basel.
  The most populous cities on the lake are Constance, Friedrichshafen, Radolfzell am Bodensee, Bregenz, and Lindau. The largest islands are Reichenau in the Lower Lake, and Lindau and Mainau in the Upper Lake.
context_section_description: 1540: the map Lacus Constantiensis by Johannes Zwick and Thomas Blarer shows topographic names, towns and the Rhine.
  1555: the map of the route of the Rhine (Rhinelaufkarte) by Caspar Vopel includes a topographical map of Lake Constance with its larger towns, the tributaries and the course of the Rhine.
  1633: the Swabian map by Johannes Janssonius, Amsterdam: Totius Sveviae novissima tabula shows Lake Constance with islands, tributaries, towns and villages.
  1675: The Lake Constance map, Lacos Acronianus sive Bodamicus, by Nikolaus David Hautt based on Andreas Arzet SJ shows Lake Constance with the adjacent lands.
caption: 1540 map of the Lake Constance region
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