World of Strange Maps

Map of Australia division: when more is less

2008-02-21T14:37:00.001-08:00

Australia division took more then two centuries.

For a long time, Australia was known as New Holland, after the country that first explored the island/continent. The British, who eventually colonised the place, at first adopted the name, but settled on an adaptation of the term Terra Australis for their new colony. That name refers to the giant continent in the South that was thought by pre-exploration geographers in the Old World to counterbalance the land-mass of the then-known world.

The name of the country might very well have been New South Wales. At present, NSW is just one of six states (and two territories) that compose the Commonwealth of Australia - and a relatively small state at that - but NSW at one time covered almost half of the country. At that time it was the only British colony on Australian soil, making it thinkable that the name might have expanded with British sovereignty.

It was not to be. As this map (the origin of which I unfortunately haven’t recorded) shows, NSW has steadily shrunk in size as other states and territories emerged or were split off from the ‘mother colony’. The map, dating from 1904, shows the evolution of NSW (and the nameless other half of the country) to Australia.

For good measure: the map denotes the situation as of the first date mentioned, and up until the second date.

1787-1825: NSW covers roughly half of the island, including present-day Tasmania.
1825-1831: the island of Van Diemen’s Land is separated from NSW.
1831-1836: the territory of Western Australia is formed, covering about one third of the island, and leaving an unorganized strip of land in between.
1836-1851: South Australia is formed out of part of NSW and part of the unorganized strip between NSW and Western Australia.
1851-1855: Victoria is separated from NSW, constituting a separate entity in the south-west.
1855-1859: NSW was extended to ‘fill the void’, so to speak; in 1856, the name of Van Diemen’s Land was changed into Tasmania, after Abel Tasman, another Dutch explorer.
1859-1861: the northeastern part of NSW is separated to form Queensland, chopping the remainder of NSW in two: the large stretch in the middle of the country, from north to south shore, is now separated from the rest of NSW by South Australia and Queensland.
1861-1862: South Australia expands westward to the detriment of ‘central’ NSW, depriving it of access to the southern shore.
1862-1863: Queensland expands westward at the expense of ‘central’ NSW and in the process bending what was one of the longest straight borders in the world.
1863-1908: ‘Central’ NSW is placed under the jurisdiction of South Australia as the Northern Territory. According to Wikipedia, this state of affairs lasted until 1911, not 1908.

Interesting maps:

Planning a travel to Brussels, Belgium? Find out why Belgian people are tearing their country apart >>

How the religious groups follow language groups in Europe >>

If Germany had won World War 1... >>

Imperial Texas Republic map >>

Unusual Manhattan street map >>

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What is bigger - the whole Europe or Brazil alone? Comparison of Europe and Brazil maps.

2008-02-18T15:12:00.001-08:00

Brazil conjures up mostly images of leisurely beach life, or crime-ridden slums. However, the country is slowly emerging as an industrial giant and might soon have an economic punch matching its surface (almost half of South America) and population (exceeding 188 million).

At 8.511.965 km², Brazil is the 5th largest country on earth, the larger ones being Russia, Canada, the US and China (in that order).

Although Brazil covers an area equal to 88% of the US and therefore is almost as large, its vastness holds less sway over the imagination of non-Americans. An interesting way of visualizing its size is presented with this map: all of non-Russian Europe fits into Brazil!

The date for this map is given as 1957?, but it most probably is older: the Polish-German border is the one from 1918 to 1939.

Planning a travel to Brussels of Belgium? Then you should know why Belgian people are tearing their country apart.

2008-02-05T15:43:00.001-08:00

Before planning a travel to Brussels or any other surely nice place in Belgium, take into consideration that not everything is so calm and nice in the country.

Cultural or language borders (and usually both of them) in Europe arise not only between countries, but even inside some countries.

Belgium sits astride one of the main cultural fault lines of Europe, consisting roughly of a northern half that speaks Dutch and is oriented towards the ‘anglosphere’ and a southern half that speaks French and is oriented towards the ‘francophonie’. Ever since the federalization of the country from the Seventies through the Nineties of the previous century - basically in two halves that correspond with the aforementioned cultural divide, although the institutional reality is much more complicated - two ’sub-nations’ have formed that keep drifting further away from each other.

It’s often said that Belgium would have split up by now if it wasn’t for the seemingly intractable situation of Brussels, officially a separate, bilingual enclave surrounded by Flemish territory. Historically Flemish, the city is now de facto Francophone (at least 80%). But it’s also home to many international institutions, and is considered the Capital of the European Union.

Flemings have always been loath to let go of Brussels, which they see as historically ‘theirs’. This attitude has been changing, and for many Flemings, the end of Belgium is thinkable without them holding on to Brussels. So what would happen is Belgium should cease to be? There is a limited number of realistic scenarios. Here is an overview, compiled at http://home.online.no/~vlaenen/flemish_questions/quste27.html .

a) independence for Flanders and Wallonia, Brussels an integral part of Flanders.

One could say this is the ’maximalist’ position of those wishing for Flemish independence. This option implies that Brussels integrates into Flanders - which is not very likely, given the totally different cultural, geopolitical and linguistic outlooks of both entities.

b) Independence for Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels.

This would appear to be the most logical outcome of any Belgian separation - at first, anyway: and independent Flanders, an equally independent Wallonia, and Brussels as an independent entity, possibly as a kind of European equivalent to Washington’s DC status, and possibly with institutional links to Wallonia (and, less likely, to Flanders).

3) Flanders an integral part of the Netherlands, Wallonia an integral part of France, Brussels a co-governed entity.

Joining the Netherlands (with which Flanders shares language and, to a lesser extent, culture) has never been a popular option in Flemish nationalist circles - because of the cultural differences, and the perceived incomprehension and lack of support for the Flemish ’cause’ in the Netherlands. But it could prove to be a popular cause after Flemish independence, which would leave the Flemings with a very small state. A similar story south of the language frontier. ‘Rattachisme’ (the political movement proposing the ‘re-integration’ of Wallonia in France) is an extremely small movement in Wallonia at present, but could surge in case of a Belgian break-up. It is interesting to note that, although Walloons share language and culture with France, they have rarely been part of France - except for Napoleonic times, when that fate also applied to the whole of the Low Countries, even up to Bremen in the North of Germany. Strictly speaking, this political movement should therefore be called ‘attachisme’. In this scenario, Brussels could be a co-dominion of the Netherlands and France - much like Andorra is co-governed by Spain and France.

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How the religious groups follow language groups in Europe

2008-01-30T14:49:00.001-08:00

This map is the result of the attempt to combine pictures of religious and language groups in Europe. It's quite easy to see how religious border follow the language ones (or vice versa?), dividing Ol' Good Europe into three main core areas - Germanic-Protestant, Slavic-Orthodox and Romance-Catholic.

This is kind of a summarized picture of all the European internal wars of 10-19th centuries.

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Manhattan Map - tell me who's your neighbor first!

2008-01-23T16:14:00.000-08:00

New York, like any typical American city is built up out of Avenues and Streets, most of them numbered so that you can never tell 29th from 30th. A much easier way to memorize the map and describe a city is by mapping its neighborhoods. Here's a map of Manhattan that will hopefully be useful not only to the tourists, but to Manhattan inhabitants, too (click on the map for bigger version). I'm not sure if it will help you find your neighbors in NYC, but keeping it in memory may be much easier than keeping all the names of Manhattan streets and aves.

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If Germany had won World War One...

2008-01-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

What would Europe have looked like, had Imperial Germany won World War One? This image is taken off a French magazine at the start of the war, painting an exaggerated picture of German (and Austro-Hungarian) land-grabs in a Europe dominated by the victorious Central powers. In this Europe, ‘grande Allemagne’ has gobbled up all of Luxembourg and Belgium, most of France (leaving only a mini-French state around Biarritz) and extends far into Eastern Europe. Great Britain is a German colony, Ireland a dependency of Austro-Hungary, which rules most of southern and eastern Europe.

That's how the map would look like if germans won one World War One.

Other interesting stuff:

Brussels, Belgium tourism is still in danger >>

How the religious groups follow language groups in Europe >>

Do you know how many times you can squeeze Europe into Brazil? >>

Texas Republic map: The Imperial Texas! >>

Street map of Manhattan. Well, not exactly 'street'... >>

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How a strange geography professor tried to eliminate 12 of 50 USA states

2007-12-26T12:22:00.000-08:00

In the 1970s, strange geography professor C. Etzel Pearcy proposed redrawing the borders of the US states, reducing them from 50 to 38. Each new state’s name was chosen to represent a physical of cultural aspect of each new territory. This realignment was supposed to be more ‘organic’ and more logical, as major population centres such as Kansas City would no longer be located in two different states. Needless to say, the idea never left the drawing board.

Found on this page of the South Dakota Magazine.

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Imperial Texas: imagine a Texas Republic map

2007-12-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

Texas is a special state within the US - not only the biggest of the contiguous 48 states, but also culturally distinct. Furthermore, it was at one time an independent state, after secession from Mexico and before absorption by the USA. This map of imaginary Texas Republic shows what Texas might have been, had it remained independent and prospered.

Image of a Texas Republic Map can be found at www.forttours.com/ images/imperialtx.jpg

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Map of Maine: Stephen King's version

2007-12-22T18:24:00.000-08:00

Horror writer Stephen King is a native of Maine and still lives there. Most of his books are situated in the state, although not all the towns he uses are real. This map shows real-world burgs in Maine (in green) and fictional localities (in blue).

This map can be found on Stephen King’s official website.

via http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/

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Pennsylvanian Lunatic asylum districts: which one is 'yours'?

2007-12-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

I like maps. I like weird maps, the kind you won’t find in a regular atlas. Maps of countries that never existed - or never will exist. I’ve given up on categorizing the maps I’ve collected so far - irredentism, alternate history,… - and decided to just be a little less anal. So, just for fun, here are the weirdest maps I found on the internet.

This map for ‘Hospital districts for insane in Pennsylvania can be found online at this site.

via http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/

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