Detailed canal maps became very authoritative with scientific and general audiences, influencing widespread philosophical speculation about the probability and nature of Martian inhabitants. Many historians attribute belief in Martian life to a simple mistranslation of «canale» in Schiaparelli’s original Italian to «canal» in English, when it would have been rendered more exactly as «channel,» which implied natural rather than artificial origins. I argue, however, that it was the image of the canals, not the word, that was so convincing.
Maps, Icons, and the Inhabited Mars Hypothesis
The new style of mapping set the stage for belief that Mars was inhabited. It showed a geometric network of such complex intersecting landforms that it was hard to imagine the network’s origin without considering some form of intelligent environmental manipulation. Despite continuing debate among astronomers about whether the canals were optical illusions, or some form of unknown natural geological feature, the most widely accepted interpretation of the new maps was that they provided convincing evidence of intelligent life.
In the years after Schiaparelli’s map became a standard, American astronomer Percival Lowell put forth a very influential hypothesis, arguing that Mars was a desert planet, with its polar caps providing the only source of water. According to Lowell, intelligent Martians (if any existed) would have had to create canals thousands of miles long to capture and control seasonal snowmelt. These canals then would have produced strips of vegetation on their banks and circular vegetative oases at their intersections, creating the patterns visible from Earth. Lowell built this hypothesis through cartography, arguing that it was the very «artificialness» of the map’s appearance that proved the existence of intelligent life. [14]
In addition to building his hypothesis through cartography, Lowell also built his scientific authority through cartography. He opened the Lowell Observatory in 1894 specifically to observe Mars, adding 116 new canals to the map in his first season of observations. As Lowell established his reputation as an excellent cartographer of Mars, he also generated scientific legitimacy that extended to his interpretations of Mars. Even Lowell’s opponents had to admit that he had the best maps, even if they didn’t like his interpretation.
It is important to note that the appearance of the network as a whole was much more important than any of the individual details in terms of supporting the inhabited-Mars hypothesis. It wouldn’t have been remarkable if Mars happened to have a linear marking or two; but the fact that it was covered in canals was startling. By the early 1900s, the canal network had become a powerful cartographic icon [fig.6].
