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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25-26° N: the world’s most perilously populated parallel
In 100 years, perhaps this map showing humanity clustering around the equator will seem “so 21st century.”
The strange plan to fight nuclear bombs with giant rubber fortresses
Cold War meets Star Wars in this cut-away of a 1950 “rubber bubble,” the first line of defense against nuclear sneak attack.
Russia’s embassies are being relocated to “Ukraine Street”
Diplomacy is war by other means.
This map shows all 39 U.S. Presidential gravesites
Presidential gravesites are spread out “democratically” — but this is more by accident than design.
Satirical cartography: a century of American humor in twisted maps
Satire and an inflated sense of self-importance collide in a series of maps that goes back more than 100 years in American history.
How Njoya the Great put his African kingdom on the map
This representation of the Bamum kingdom is a rare example of early 20th-century indigenous African cartography.
Maps of Great Lakes shipwrecks detail one of North America’s biggest graveyards
There have been some 6,000 Great Lakes shipwrecks, which have claimed an estimated 30,000 lives. These maps show some of them.
NATO-Russia border: “No peeing towards Russia,” warns a sign in Norway
Urinating in the direction of NATO’s staunchest opponent could cost you $350 or more. For world peace, aim wisely.
Welcome to Null Island, where lost data goes to die
Where the prime meridian meets the equator, a non-existent island captures our imagination — and our non-geocoded data.
An interactive map of Irish shipwrecks, littered with thousands of stories
We have a morbid curiosity about nautical disaster stories. The Irish "Wreck Viewer" offers a window into centuries of marine misfortune.
Derinkuyu: Mysterious underground city in Turkey found in man’s basement
A basement renovation project led to the archaeological discovery of a lifetime: the Derinkuyu Underground City, which housed 20,000 people.
Is your air as unhealthy as cigarettes? There’s a map for that
The World Air Quality Index shows how clean your city’s air is, in real time.
Bar chart races: short on analysis, but fun to watch
Any dataset that can be quantified over time can be turned into a contest that is both exciting and (a little bit) enlightening.
Map of whale migration “superhighways” might help save them from extinction
The world’s great whales aren’t just vulnerable where they congregate, but everywhere they roam.
Ukraine: made by Lenin, unmade by Putin?
The Bolsheviks may have created Ukraine’s current borders, but that doesn’t mean dismantling them is good for today’s Russia.
Mormon geography: why some Latter-day Saints are digging for a ‘lost city’ in southeastern Iowa
Using the Book of Mormon as a sacred but ambiguous atlas, the Latter-day Saints have been looking for the lost city of Zarahemla for decades.
Canceled megaprojects: Alternative visions of New York and London
Take a look at the Times Square Totem, the Trafalgar Square Pyramid, and other landmarks that were never built.
Scottish gritters and James Bond puns: a map for your ice only
To clear Scotland’s roads in winter, the local traffic agency employs heavy machinery with punny names. Can you grit and bear it?
Three maps remind us of the horror of the Vietnam War
America’s war in Southeast Asia is fading fast from memory. These maps offer a horrific reminder.
Why Germany is a blank spot on Google’s Street View
There are good historical reasons why Germans are suspicious of surveillance.
Debt-to-GDP ratio: No country owes more than Japan
The U.S. has the world's largest debt in absolute terms, but Japan's is the largest when measured in terms of its debt-to-GDP ratio.
Maybe Ukraine should claim some of Russia’s land, instead
One hundred years ago, a Ukrainian flag flew over Vladivostok and other parts of the “Russian” Far East.
Syphilis: a disease so nasty that it was named after foreigners and enemies
The most feared sexually transmitted disease (STD) of the last half-millennium was usually named after foreigners, often the French.
Twisted cities: 10 places synonymous with psychological disorders
Stockholm Syndrome is the most famous of 10 psychological disorders named after world cities. Most relate to tourism or hostage-taking.
The map as detective: finding lost mothers — and fugitive killers
Maps can do more than show us places. They also can help determined people find others long lost, whether birth mothers or fugitive killers.
Let George Orwell guide you through 1920s Paris
Famished, not famous: retrace Orwell’s hunger days, when he was one of the city’s legion of poor foreigners.
How did chess pieces get their names?
One player’s pawn is another’s farmer. And at one time, the queen was a rather powerless virgin.
Alt history: What if the U.S. lost a World War?
Opponents of America's entry into the looming Second World War believed the U.S. would be dismembered.
There’s a desert hiding in the heart of France
France is split in two by its very own "desert," the Empty Diagonal. The area’s depopulation is fairly recent, and Paris is to blame.
“Welcome to Lake Toiletbrush”: How IKEA ruined the map of Sweden
Many of the furniture giant’s products are named after Swedish locations. Not everyone is happy about that.