HOW DO MAPS NEGATIVELY IMPACT THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A PLACE?

Alexia Platt (WHS)

Maps are formal representations of place, that are viewed and perceived as accurate depictions of a geographical location. However, the creation of maps has affected how a place is seen globally, and locally, and alter the feeling and characteristics at that location, changing how a place is viewed. Maps do not consider cultural, historical or personal aspects of a place, and rather give a dissociated, and potentially inaccurate view of a place, and as part of this, have effect on character, industry, income and standard of living.

Figure 1

The Mercator map (shown in Figure 1), created in 1569 by Geradus Mercator, is the map most commonly used today. Found in school classrooms, geographical diagrams and GIS systems, such as Google Maps, many go through life never seeing another type of map, and presume the depiction provided in that map is a true and accurate representation of the globe. But, if the map was created in 1569, how can this be thought to be accurate? There were no satellite photographs available, limited data providing the true distances between locations and the map was created by just one man, who had little experience in travel. The true creation of this map was made by using a previous, rectangular map, and creating a paper cylinder, thus drawing a new, more proportionate map, intended for use by sailors, creating a loxodrome where all latitude and longitude lines were on the same angle. However, in doing so, this distorted the true size of land, increasingly distorting land further away from the Equator. Although many may argue this was due to practicality reasons, this led to richer Western countries appearing disproportionately large, and countries which had lower income and less influence over a global trade market to appear smaller, shown through the Greenland Effect, where the island of Greenland, estimated 0.8 million sq km is portrayed as the same size as the entire continent of Africa, where in reality, it is around 14 times smaller (shown in Figure 2). This unrealistic representation on maps shows the remnants of colonialism, inflating importance of many more affluent countries, and can therefore increase attractiveness to tourists who are looking at countries on a map. This then would increase input from tourism, allowing more money to be placed into the economy, providing a source of higher income and employment opportunities for many. All of these factors can lead to a higher standard of living, with increased healthcare services from public sector, and higher rates of job security. This then increases global perspective of a place, making it seem inviting and appealing to those looking to invest, and potentially visit, showing how the slight inflation of countries on a sailing map written 500 years ago can affect an economy’s industry today.

Figure 2

The creation of maps was not a universal decision – generally, it was either members of governments or individuals that decided exact lines of borders to be written on maps, for example the Sino-Indian border along Southern Tibet, written by British officer Henry McMahon in 1914. At the time of publish, India was part of the British Commonwealth, and China were not included in the drawing of the 3,500 km border, meaning borders were heavily in favour of India. However, Beijing immediately disputed this border, claiming 90,000 square km of Indian territory. However, as a result of this, India then captured 38,000 square km of land under Chinese control. This has led to subsequent wars and scuffles, including the Ladakh confrontation on June 15th, 2020, resulting in 20 deaths, and 76 injuries. Just one misdrawn line, drawn over 100 years ago still leads to political unrest in the area, meaning the place between the two countries is viewed as a dangerous, uninhabitable zone. Furthermore, the location itself is not tied with any nation, meaning a sense of pride for a country has not been developed, removing a sense of belonging to those, who are not fighting, within the area. This zone has led to tensions between the two countries, and countless deaths, showing the detrimental effects of cartography.

Figure 3

Maps have potential to isolate entire communities, making them feel alone and unable to feel national pride, if the drawing of maps were unable to cater to the cultural group. Kurdish people are a large community of 30 million people without a homeland – the largest group in the World. After WWI, as part of Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points, the Kurdish people were meant to receive their own homeland, Kurdistan (shown in Figure 3), drawn between Syria, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. However, the Treaty of Lausanne did not include for this, leaving an entire community without a home. This has led to genocides, such as by Saddam Hussein in the 1980’s, where thousands of Kurdish people were gassed. This means that Kurdish people felt like the were outsiders in their own locational country of Iraq, as the government were not welcoming to them, and rather oppressed them instead. Furthermore, the fact that there is no real border created with bordering countries means that trade is difficult for Kurdish people, affecting income and quality of services and life for those within the region. This can make the place seem unattractive, and a harsh place to live, all due to the lack of physical lines on a map for the country. The non-physical divides allow for more affluent and dominant countries to overrule and oppress smaller countries when maps are drawn, affecting a sense of community and belonging to a place that does not, according to maps, exist. Maps, generally, are a detriment to a sense of connection and belonging to a place, as the intricate details surrounding true borders are often not discussed thoroughly, meaning local communities, and nations are affected. The modern map is outdated and created by Western colonialists to prove their sense of authority globally, and in turn, isolating and reducing importance of smaller, non-Western countries. In order to allow for places to develop individually, and not be affected by past attempts to reduce power, many parts of maps, including proportions and individual borders, need to be rethought, in order to benefit the world economy and belonging, rather than individual nations. Bibliography

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ gerardus-mercator/ https://www.businessinsider.com/the-mercatorprojection-distorts-countries-2017-6?r=US&IR=T https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/mappingindia-and-china-disputed-borders/index.html https://globalriskinsights.com/2016/03/impactindependence-kurdistan/