Strange Maps
A special series by Frank Jacobs.
Frank has been writing about strange maps since 2006, published a book on the subject in 2009 and joined Big Think in 2010. Readers send in new material daily, and he keeps bumping in to cartography that is delightfully obscure, amazingly beautiful, shockingly partisan, and more. "Each map tells a story, but the stories told by your standard atlas for school or reference are limited and literal: they show only the most practical side of the world, its geography and its political divisions. Strange Maps aims to collect and comment on maps that do everything but that - maps that show the world from a different angle."
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The US goes by the motto In God We Trust (but only since 1956, when it replaced the ‘unofficial’ motto, E pluribus unum). A motto (from the Italian word for […]
(click map to enlarge) A truism in geopolitics holds that “geography is destiny.” Maps don’t have to be so dramatically laden with meaning, though. In this case, geography is mere […]
n There’s some corner of an English field that is forever Australia. n This almost century-old chalk map of Oz, carved into a Wiltshire hillside, seems to validate the above […]
Gone are the days when crossing a border in Europe almost always meant having to change currencies. Converting guilders into Deutschmark, francs to pesetas, or whatsits into whatnots — all […]
Back in 1920, native-born Parisians were a minority in their own city
Could the urge to use bad puns as names for hair salons be universal?
As the Soviets move to rein in Yugoslavia, the US and UN strike back…
Varanasi, supposedly founded by Shiva, draws a million pilgrims each year
Was this map supposed to scare secessionist Virginia back into the Union?
The flight of the Freudenheims through the colourful crayons of their 11-year-old son Fritz
Travellers, discoverers and cartographers have named the world around us so that we might find our way in it. The purpose of a place name, therefore, is to be as […]
This blog reached its 10 millionth hit last Tuesday. That is amazing. I’m speechless. Well, almost: n Thanks to all visitors, casual and regular, for helping Strange Maps reach that […]
Fast food chains generally don’t have a good rep when it comes to healthy, eco-conscious dining. There is some re-branding going on, though, like at McDonald’s, which is moving heaven […]
“A popular game show in which contestants need to answer trivia questions on a variety of topics that has been running on US tv for nearly 45 years, and has […]
Here’s a treat for all you cruciverbally obsessed Hungarian cartophiles out there: a Magyarophone crossword in the shape of Old Hungary, i.e. the other half of the Austrian-led Double Monarchy […]
Russia is no longer the hub of a worldwide Communist empire, nor the main ingredient of the Soviet Union; but the Kremlin still insists on wielding power in its old […]
I learned a new word today, but the condition it describes has been with me for quite some time: cartocacoethes – the compulsion to see maps everywhere. More on that […]
“If you have to ask for slaw on a hot dog, it’s not a true West Virginia hot dog”
A weird marriage of urban planning and personality cult
A less well-known boundary than America’s Continental Divide
To spare the feelings of the good people of his hometown, Sinclair Lewis invented a fictional state as the setting for his novels
Tilt your map 90 degrees to the right, and the elephant reveals itself
Europe’s most powerful country is annexed out of existence by its neighbours
The Jews have another Israel. It’s in Siberia – and it was their first official home.