Northern Black Sea region on cartouches of geographical maps of the 16th - early 18th cc.: features of European perception

The formation of the understanding of the Northern Black Sea region took place not only through scientific knowledge, but also in other ways - primarily artistic. With the accumulation of knowledge about the Northern Black Sea region, a certain image was formed in European society. This image was transformed in various forms, one of which became cartouches on geographical maps, which can now be considered as one of the important sources with high information potential, capable of revealing the main features of the region and ideas about it during the 16th - 18th centuries.Structural analysis of cartouches makes it possible to talk about both real information that reflects historical reality, and about established stereotypes and information of a program nature. The plots of the cartouches mainly appealed to the historical past, embodied the social propaganda of European values, polarized the images of the civilizational West to the barbaric East, pointed to the peculiarities of the confrontation in the Northern Black Sea steppes.