30 "Persuasive" Maps That Attempted To Change History
Publish date: 2024-06-15
Angling in Troubled Waters: A Serio-Comic Map of Europe, 1899.Frederick Rose/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Blast the Hub and Smash the Wheel!, 1944.Lockheed Aircraft Corporation/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University An eclipse lately discovered in the Georgium Sidus, and quite unexpected by any of the Astronomers, 1829.John Phillips/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Carriers of the New Black Plague, Ken magazine, April 7, 1938.William Henry Cotton/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University "Hands Across the Sea." John Bull - "Shake, and we will boss the whole world." Judge magazine, June 11, 1898.Victor Gillam/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Hold: Re-Elect James D. Phelan U.S. Senator and let him finish the work he now has under way to stop the Silent Invasion, 1920.Dan Sweeney/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University The Trouble In Cuba, Judge magazine, August 10,1895. Bernard Gillam/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University The Leo Belgicus map, 1648.Famiano Strada/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Map of England. A Modern St. George & The Dragon, St. Stephens Review, June 9, 1888.Tom Merry/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University See why nobody anywhere has to wait long for salt?, 1963.Morton Salt Company/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University We Must Finish the Nicaragua Canal, Judge magazine, June 18, 1898.Victor Gillam/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University National Student Strike Poster, May 6, 1970.The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Nicknames of the States, 1884.W. Mackowitz, Trowbridge & Petford/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Vermin: People of Europe, Defend Your Sacred Treasures!, Kladderadatsch, October 28, 1934.Arthur Johnson/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University The plumb-pudding in danger, or state epicures taking un petit souper - "the great Globe itself, and all which it inherit," is too small to satisfy such insatiable appetites, 1805.James Gillray/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Portrait of America 1939, Life magazine, June 5, 1939. Erik Nitsche/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Portugal Is Not A Small Country, 1951.Secretariado da Propaganda Nacional/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University His 128th Birthday. "Gee, but this is an awful stretch!" Puck magazine, June 29, 1904.Joseph Ferdinand Keppler/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University A Shower of Patriotism Covers Cuba, 1898.Victor Gillam/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University The Silver Dog With the Golden Tail. Will the Tail Wag the Dog, or the Dog Wag the Tail?, 1896.The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University South America: the Land of Opportunity. A Continent of Scenic Wonders. A Paradise for the Tourist. General Information for Travelers. 1912.Lamport & Holt Line/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University South America Under the Axis or The Heil With the Monroe Doctrine, Ken magazine, April 21, 1938.John Grothe/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Speaking of Timetables, 1944.The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Next!, Puck magazine, September 7, 1904Joseph Ferdinand Keppler/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University The Avenger: An Allegorical War Map for 1877.The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University The Awakening, Puck magazine, February 20, 1915.Henry Mayer/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Hark! Hark! The Dogs Do Bark! With Note By Walter Emanuel, 1914.Johnson, Riddle & Co./The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University A Thing Well Begun Is Half Done, Judge magazine, October 7, 1899.Victor Gillam/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University Two Worlds 1950, Time magazine, January 2, 1950.Robert Chapin/The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell University War Atlas, Philadelphia Inquirer, February 13, 1942.The PJ Mode Collection/Cornell UniversityLike this gallery?
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30 “Persuasive” Maps That Attempted To Change History View GalleryEvery map assumes a point of view. Not just in the Mercator vs. equirectangular sense, where, for example, Greenland's girth is famously either greatly exaggerated or diminished, depending on how the globe is stretched and flattened.
There's also the point of view that comes when the inherent authority of a map meets the unavoidable politics of the mapmaker, forging an image that does so much more than just offer directions to the wayward.
Some maps are politicized in subtle ways, such as McArthur’s Universal Corrective Map of the World, an "upside down" map that offers a refreshingly non-Eurocentric view of our globe by highlighting the arbitrary nature of so-called "north-up" maps.
Other maps are baldly — and boldly — political, akin to satirical cartoons made by activist cartographers, using maps to make strong points about a wide variety of controversial topics.
In 2014, lawyer and amateur map historian Paul "P.J." Mode donated more than 700 of these so-called "persuasive" maps to Cornell University, the boldest of which are compiled in the gallery above.
This collection of so-called "persuasive cartography" features maps that seek to draw attention to the size of underestimated nations, the breadth of student strikes, the scope of U.S. salt production, the support for women's suffrage, and much more.
Many were made in wartime and used to illustrate, even to the illiterate, the reach of the enemy or the prowess of the mapmaker's native land.
But this isn't just a collection of "propaganda," a term Mode finds pejorative, implying inaccuracy or corruption.
"I collect both -- there are some pieces that are persuasive because they are completely accurate and that marshal facts in a way that is very powerful,” he told National Geographic. "There’s a great quote from a colonel on World War II: 'Propaganda is what the other side does. What we do is communication.'"
Like cartography? Check out 25 maps that make sense of the world we live in. Still curious? Try a gallery of maps that explain America better than any textbook.
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