Conflict_EventType_Mali

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In new series, ‘Map Nation’, I choose a country at random, and use this a topic to create maps related to this country. First, out of the hat – Mali Tim Marshall in his excellent book, ‘Prisoners of Geography’, underlines the importance and much overlooked influence of geography on the history of the world and modern geopolitics. Among many great examples, include Russia and it’s need for a warm sea port, or Europe, where terrain, climate and rivers created the multitude of countries and cultures in a relatively small land mass. Another example of historical and geography’s persisting impact today is perhaps no greater than inRead More →

UK_ESC_Overall_Post2000_Points Comparison

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Trying to understand and explain the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) isn’t the easy. Tune in on the evening of 13th May 2017 and in between overly-scripted hosts, thumping Eurodance and ballards, you’ll treated performances like Azerbaijan’s which includes a man wearing a horse’s head. Meanwhile Italy is one of the favourites, despite having a man dancing in a gorilla suit- and this is par for the course each year in the ESC. For those unfamiliar with ESC,  on the face of it, this is an annual song contest where each competing European country writes and performs a song, which is then scored by a panel of judges andRead More →

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England is often known as the ‘home of football’ due to the its role formalising the first standardised rules of ‘association football’, and this game that was spread globally over the 19th and 20th century. In its early origins in England , the Football Association was formed in 1863, which formalised the rules of the game and started the FA Cup in 1871, but football remained an ad-hoc amateur game, run by those who could afford to play this as a pastime.  For example, the majority of founding FA clubs were private school teams, despite the large popularity of the game in the industrialised inner cities of Victorian Britain.Read More →

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Happy St David’s Day/Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus to all those around the world with Welsh links or sympathies. For those unaware, St David’s Day on 1st March,  is the national day of Wales, celebrating the saint day of the patron saint of Wales, David, and is an excuse (if ever needed) to stock up on Welsh flags, sup some Brains Beer, tuck into Welsh rarebit and Welsh cakes, and sing Calon Lân while watching reruns of Wales beating England in rugby. With all stereotypes out the way, the nation building of Wales/Cymru is an interesting one. The history is uncertain, but Wales has it’s originsRead More →

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While this site lives a digital world of geographical information, there is nothing quite like going to visit a real life, physical ‘map den’, and for those who are able to, I’d highly recommend going to visit The British Library in Central London. Their map room has one of largest collections of geographical information, with approximately 4.5 million entities. This alone should be a pull factor to have a ‘map’ day in London. However, up until March 1st 2017, there is a further reason to venture down, and this is because of the fantastic “Maps and the 20th Century: Drawing the Line” exhibition which isRead More →

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How would you define a map? A type in a popular search engine beginning with ‘G’, has a familiar definition, “a diagrammatic representation of an area of land or sea showing physical features, cities, roads, etc.”, and indeed the word map derives from the word ‘mappa’ meaning sheet/napkin. However, ironically though ‘map’ isn’t restricted to this two dimensional version we can fold up; as we all know, we live a digital age where you navigate the world around you with your laptop or smartphone too. But what happens if you live somewhere with little to no mobile internet signal and sub-zero temperatures most of theRead More →

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In a world where digital maps are available within a few clicks and can rely pre-loaded map projection systems to ensure we are mapping in the right location, for me it is always humbling and breathtaking the painstaking efforts and relative accuracy of older maps. One particular example is the Selden map of China (acquired from estate of London lawyer John Selden in 1659), one of the oldest surviving merchant trade maps, and one of the first Chinese maps to reach Europe, roughly dated 1607-1617. In many ways the beauty and craft of this map speaks for itself (see here), but there is more to thisRead More →

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I recently came across a copy of an old school book, “Picture Map Geography of Canada and Alaska” by Vernon Quinn, that includes charming woodcut picture maps by Bruno da Osimo, a then noted Italian illustrator, for each of the Canadian provinces (other than Nunavut, which was then part of the Northwest Territories). Originally published in 1944 […] via Vintage Picture Map Geography of Canada — O’ CanadaRead More →