Columbus and Copernicus: The Hidden Relationship

Most people know of Galileo and his death related to the heliocentric argument. Many, but not all, are further aware that Nicolaus Copernicus who first came out with the theory that the sun is the center of the universe. That revelation is typically given as the start of modern astronomy and its divorce from geography.

Few relize that it was Christopher Columbus' opening up of the New World that helped fuel Copernicus' discovery. The Boston Globe has a great article which discusses just that. Columbus' discovery shattered the Christian idea that there could be no lands that had not heard the Gospel and Greek-thought that the Earth sphere floated on water. The realization that these ideas were false and that the model of a balanced Earth medieval scholars made was also wrong allowed Copernicus to rethink the universe.

The relationship between Columbus and Copernicus is proof once again that geography is a key competent with understanding not only the Earth but its place in the universe.

Nazi Propaganda Use of a Map Projection

TDAXP links to a collection of LIFE magazine photographs of Nazi Germany. One of the images in the collection is a map used by the Nazis to give the impression of a looming Soviet threat. The map shows the Soviets' western portion as newly occupied implying (somewhat accurately) that the Reds were on the march west. The biggest use of a map technique as propaganda, though, is making west the top of the map. This gives the impression that the Soviet Union was likely to invade Europe as if it were being pulled by gravity. The map makes one think that Communist invasion was natural and controlled by things like the geological force of continental drip.

The Soviet Union's place in geography has made map use by propagandists easy. It has been said Americans used the Mercator Map projection to over-enlarge the Soviet Union. The Chinese used maps showing the distance between Moscow and the Russian Far East to imply that the Far East deserved to belong to China.

The end of the Cold War and the use of "new" map projection has greatly curbed map projection as propaganda by the various powers. Now maps propaganda is mostly reduced to data display and cartographic artistic-style.

Egypt Asks for the Rosetta Stone Back and What This Means

The archaeological world was somewhat surprised when the Louvre Museum agreed to hand over anicent Egyptian fresco pieces over to Egypt. The pieces were bought by the Louvre, however, it was later revealed the pieces were originally stolen. 

 

Egypt threatened to stop working with the Louvre unless the fresco parts were returned.  This has been the standard way Middle East countries have been able to have national artifacts returned from former colonial overlords.  Now Egypt is hoping on ridding the wave of success and have the British (temporally) return the Rosetta Stone.

 

Right now observers are watching to see what Egypt does to get the stone back.  If it merely asks then nothing is new.  However, if Egypt threatens to cut off cooperation and follows through then the archaeological world will enter a new realm of interstate relations.  This would become the first incident where great damage is done between states because of a fight over a long-ago taken item.  Recent stolen items are expected to be returned but so far there seems to be a statue of limitations on artifacts taken before the late 1800s.

 

Right now everyone must wait and see.  The fate of countless public and private European (and some American) collections hang in a balance.

Halloween Geography: Catholic Supermen of America and Great Britain

Part of a series of fun Halloween posts and by no means comprehensive
Setting: the United States of America
Problem: Haunted House with the normal bleeding walls, mysterious hostile voice saying "get out," and the usual poltergeist

The above is a standard set up for ghost haunting stories in the United States. Whether it be in movies or urban myths many Americans are familiar with this backdrop. When supernatural evil is the enemy, only the power of God can be trusted to combat this dire threat. But in American culture not any power of God can be trusted. No one would think about consulting the local Baptist youth minister or the post-Methodist preacher at the local post-Presbyterian church. No, the only logical choice for battling Beelzebub and his minions would be a Catholic priest. The stereotype of a Catholic priest armed with sacraments and years of underground exorcism training is the cultural default character for this type of situation.

Some may wonder why a Catholic priest, the representation of a faith long viewed negatively in most of America, is the standard fighter of evil in American culture. It is surprising therefore for many to learn it is because of past anti-Catholic biases that the Catholic faith and members are viewed in this regard. The Catholic religion was viewed by most Americans as a combination of Christianity and weird superstitions. The first use of Catholics fighting evil in popular American stories came into being at the start of the 20th century. This is the time of a great rise of Catholic Americans and a slight acceptance of them by Protestants. As Americans became more scientific-minded, ghosts and demons were pushed to the side. However, when these spirits were needed for stories, Americans combined ghost legends with the stereotypes of Catholics.

The appearance of Catholic priests as supernatural warriors took a decline after Vatican II in the 1960s. The use of English in mass and doing away with many traditions made Catholics look less foreign and even less mysterious... and less likely to have years of super secret demon fighting training. New Age psychics and bastardization of old American Indian shamans began to appear in evil battling tales. However, Catholic priests still fight evil in modern stories like Constantine, The Order, and various exorcism movies.

In the United Kingdom Catholics do not appear in almost any ghost stories. In older tales high church, catholic, Anglicanism is used to combat evil like in Dracula. Low church protestantism was not used because most of the original fundamentalist/revisionist movements like the Puritans had burned themselves out in England by the 1800s. The second wave of English protestantism was more focused on social issues rather than defeating Satan. Most modern British ghost combating tales are New Age. The best example is the Highgate Vampire where two New Agers, one involved in magic and the other a New Age Old Catholic, claimed to have defeated a demon.

Catholicgauze versus Bad Maps (Part 4,593)

Catholicgauze is jumping mad and ranting at the world which continues to create bad maps

Neogeography, GIS, and image editing software has made it easy for anyone to create a map. However, the over reliance on base maps (the basic country outline which people then edit to create their own maps) and geographic illiteracy has map the appearance of bad maps more common.

Two examples this past week pushed me over the edge.

1. At a meeting of independent and government analysts discussing the outlook of the South China Sea a government-made map labeled the island of Hainan "Taiwan." When I discussed this error with the cartographer he/she shrugged it off and replied "I'm not a geographer." If it were just a labelling error that would be one thing but the mislabelling also effected the data displayed on the map. Readers of the map were given the wrong information because of the geographic error.
2. The second error is a popular online map making the rounds (featured at Coming Anarchy). The map uses an old base map and ignores country winners because of the bad base data. Also, the probable use of data from the Guardian makes any United Nations wins show up as victories for the United States.

I know this is a rant but bad maps can lead to serious problems. This is more than a "hey, let us laugh at the Weather Channel for using map data that went out of date in 1990 by showing two Yemens." Bad maps are a sign geographic illiteracy. The use of bad maps in understanding business and political situation can lead to disaster. Whether knowing if a valley village is Pashtun or Dari to knowing what the zoning law states, good maps are needed to succeed.

Taking the Weekend Off

Have a Happy Columbus Day weekend. For maps of Columbus' journeys see the 2006 post, to see how he changed the world read the 2007 post, and for a short defense of the man checkout my 2008 post.

So let us toast those who have discovered America

• Huzzah for Columbus who proved to Europe the New World!
• Huzzah for John Cabot who probably proved continental North America to Europe!
• Huzzah for the Basque fishermen who made Europeans curious of wealth beyond the western horizon!
• Huzzah for the Vikings for tried!
• Huzzah for the Indians who gave the Americas at least 13,500 years of human history!
• Huzzah for the others who were in stone age America but have gone into the mists of history!
• Huzzah for all those we do not remember!
• Huzzah for all those who came afterwards bringing ideals and hard work which made the New World a land of opportunity!

Maps of Muslims Around the World

Muslim Population Cartogram. Click to enlarge to see how small Arabs are as a percentage

A new Pew Study has been released claiming nearly one in four of the world's population is Muslim for comparison about one in three is Christian). While Muslims are not a singular solitary bloc and have thousands of divisions both stated and unstated, it is undeniable the Islam is big.

The report has several maps. The worldwide cartogram (above) clearly shows just how small of a percentage Arabs are compared to the overall Muslim population. The report has interactive maps showing the Muslim population in the Middle East and North Africa, the rest of Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe (where one can see how immigration has made Western Europe the new home of European Islam instead of the Turkish-converted Eastern Europe), and North and South America. There is also a map of Shia population numbers in the Middle East.

An interesting table shows the population numbers of the largest Muslim minorities by country. The top five Muslim minority countries are India, Ethiopia, People's Republic of China, Russia, and Tanzania.