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Cartographic propaganda is a map created with the goal of achieving a result similar to traditional
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
. The map can be outright falsified, or created using subjectivity with the goal of persuasion. The idea that maps are subjective is not new; cartographers refer to maps as a human-subjective product and some view cartography as an "industry, which packages and markets spatial knowledge" or as a communicative device distorted by human subjectivity. However, cartographic
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
is widely successful because maps are often presented as a miniature model of reality, and it is a rare occurrence that a map is referred to as a distorted model, which sometimes can "lie" and contain items that are completely different from reality. Because the word propaganda has become a pejorative, it has been suggested that mapmaking of this kind should be described as "persuasive cartography", defined as maps intended primarily to influence opinions or beliefs – to send a message – rather than to communicate geographic information.


History

The T-O map is a historical example of cartographic propaganda during the Middle Ages. During the Renaissance maps became more widely used in general and their use began to take on a more cultural and political character, more similar to the cartographic propaganda that is seen today.Barber and Harper 2010, p. 16. This use was especially practiced in Italy, where the competition for resources between city states in the central and northern Italian heartlands led to a precocious awareness of the practical utility of maps for military and strategic purposes, as well as civilian uses such as the planning of forts, canals, and aqueducts. In sequence, the usage of cartographic propaganda has increased remarkably alongside the rise of the modern
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
.Black 1997; Black 2008 The interwar period in Germany fostered the development of cartographic propaganda. German propagandists discovered the advantages of cartography in the re-representation of reality. For the Nazi regime, the most important goal in producing maps was their efficiency in providing communication between the ruler and the masses. The use of maps in this manner can be referred to as "suggestive cartography", as being capable of dynamic representations of power. This period of geopolitical cartographic development was a continuous process associated with
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...
and World War II; the development of cartographic propaganda is closely related to the wider Nazi propaganda machine (Tyner 1974). There were three different categories of propaganda maps that were used by the Nazi propaganda machine; (1) maps used to illustrate the condition of Germany as a people and nation are identified; (2) maps taking an aim at the morale of the Allies via a mental offensive through maps specifically designed to keep the U.S. neutral in the war by changing the perception of threats; and (3) maps as blue-prints of the post-war world. During this period, this approach to cartography expanded to Italy,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
, and
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a Sovereign state, country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southern Europe, Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes ...
as cartographers and propagandists found inspiration in the "positivistic trends of the German world". This more overt use of maps as propaganda continued into the Cold War period. Post- World War II U.S. cartographers modified projections to create a menacing image of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
by making the Soviet Union appear larger and thus more threatening. This approach was also applied to other nearby communist countries, thereby accentuating the rise of communism as a whole. The April 1, 1946, issue of ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' published a map entitled "Communist Contagion", which focused on the communist threat of the Soviet Union. In this map the strength of the Soviet Union was enhanced by a split-spherical presentation of Europe and Asia which made the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
seem larger as a result of the break in the center of the map. Communist expansion was also emphasized in this map as it presented the Soviet Union in a vivid red color, a color commonly associated with danger (and communism as a whole), and categorized neighboring states in terms of the danger of contagion, using the language of disease (states were referred to as quarantined, infected or exposed, adding to the presentation of these countries as dangerous or threatening). More generally, during the Cold War period, small-scale maps served to make dangers appear menacing; some maps were made to make Vietnam appear close to
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borderin ...
and Australia; or
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
to the Indian Ocean. Similarly, maps illustrating rocket positions used a polar azimuth projection with the North Pole at its center, which gave the map reader the perception that there existed a relatively small distance between the countries on opposing sides of the Cold War.


Methods

Scale, map projection, and symbolization are characteristics of cartography that can be selectively applied that will therefore transform a map into cartographic propaganda.


Scale and generalization

Scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...
are used to relate distance because maps are usually smaller than the area they represent. Because of the need for a scale, the cartographer often makes use of map generalization as a way to ensure clarity. The size of the scale affects the use of generalization; a smaller scale forces a higher level of generalization. There are two types of map generalization; geometric and content. The methods of geometric generalization are selection, simplification, displacement, smoothing, and enhancement. Content generalization promotes clarity of the purpose or meaning of a map by filtering out details irrelevant to the map's function or theme.Monmonier 1996, p. 35. Content generalization has two essential elements; selection and classification. Selection serves to suppress information and classification is the choice of relevant features.


Map projection

Map projection In cartography, map projection is the term used to describe a broad set of transformations employed to represent the two-dimensional curved surface of a globe on a plane. In a map projection, coordinates, often expressed as latitude and longit ...
is the method of presenting the curved, three-dimensional surface of the planet into a flat, two-dimensional plane.Monmonier 1996, p. 8. The flat map, even with a constant scale, stretches some distances and shortens others, and varies the scale from point to point. Choice of map projection affects the map's size, shape, distance and/or direction. Map projection has been used to create cartographic propaganda by making small areas bigger and large areas bigger still. Arno Peters' attack on the
Mercator Projection The Mercator projection () is a cylindrical map projection presented by Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. It became the standard map projection for navigation because it is unique in representing north as up and ...
in 1972 is an example of the subjectivity of map projection; Peters argued that it is an ethnocentric projection.Crampton 2010


Symbolization

Symbols A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different co ...
are used in maps to complement map scale and projection by making visible the features, places, and other locational information represented on a map.Monmonier 1996, p. 18. Because map symbolization describes and differentiates features and places, "map symbols serve as a geographic code for storing and retrieving data in a two-dimensional geographic framework." Map symbolization tells the map reader what is relevant and what is not. As a result, the selection of symbols can be done subjectively and with a propagandistic intent.


Historical themes

The map is a symbol of the state and has thus been used throughout history as a symbol of power and nationhood.Monmonier 1996 As a symbol the map has served many purposes of the state including the exertion of rule, legitimation of rule, assertion of national unity, and was even used for the mobilization of war.


Exerting imperial rule in medieval and renaissance Europe

Cartographic propaganda in Medieval Europe spoke to the emotions rather than to reason and often reflected the prestige of empires.Barber and Harper 2010, p. 52. The Fra Mauro World Map (1450) was intended for display in Venice and shows the Portuguese discoveries in Africa and emphasizes the feats of Marco Polo. The
Honourable East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
commissioned a copy in 1804, implying that the company was following in the footsteps of the Portuguese empire. "The Americas" (1562) was created by Diego Gutiérrez and serves as a powerful celebration of Spain's New World Empire. In this map, King Philip II is shown riding the turbulent Atlantic Ocean on a chariot; this illustration is reminiscent of the Roman God Neptune. References like this were intended to strengthen Spain's image in Europe and its claim to the Americas. European rulers often tried to intimidate visiting envoys by displaying maps of their ruler's lands and forts, with the implication that the maps of the ambassador's nation would be conquered as well.Barber and Harper 2010, p. 35. For example, in 1527, during festivities for the French ambassador in England, maps depicting aerial views of French towns being successfully besieged by the English decorated the walls of a Greenwich pavilion specially built for the ambassador's visit.


Legitimizing colonial rule

European
colonial powers Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colony, colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose the ...
used the map as an intellectual tool to legitimize territorial conquest. Ramsay Muir's ''Cambridge Modern Historical Atlas'' (Cambridge, 1912) compiled a selection of imperial triumphs which he displayed on the Atlas. Maps during the colonial period were also used to organize and rank the rest of the world according to the European powers. Edward Quin used color to depict civilization in ''Historical Atlas in a Series of Maps of the World'' (London, 1830). In the introduction of the atlas Quin wrote, "we have covered alike in all the periods with a flat olive shading ... barbarous and uncivilized countries such as the interior of Africa at the present moment."


Asserting national unity

A single overview map of an entire country serves as an assertion of national unity.Monmonier 1996, p. 88. The national atlas commissioned during the rule of Elizabeth I bound together maps of the various English counties and asserted their unity under Elizabeth's rule. A few decades later, Henry VI of France celebrated the reunification of his kingdom through the creation of the atlas, "Le theatre francoys".Monmonier 1996, p. 89. The atlas includes an impressive engraving proclaiming the glory of king and kingdom.


Political use in the 19th and 20th centuries

In the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries the political potential of cartographic shapes became used more widely and began to be used for more blatantly propagandistic purposes.Barber and Harper 2010, p. 161. Map and globe can be used as symbols for abstract ideas because they are familiar to the masses and they harbor emotive connotations. Maps are often incorporated as an emblematic element in a larger design or are used to provide the visual framework on which a scenario is played out. Fred W. Rose created two propaganda posters depicting the British general election in 1880 in which he used the map of England, "Comic Map of the British Isles indicating the Political Situation in 1880" and "The overthrow of His Imperial Majesty King Jingo I: A Map of the Political Situation in 1880 by Nemesis". He was also the creator of the 1899 "Angling in troubled waters". Henri Dron used the figure of the world map in the 1869 propaganda poster, "L'Europe des Points Noirs".


Coaxing during World War I and II

Cartographic propaganda during WW I and WW II was used to polarize states along the lines of war and did so by appealing to the masses. Fred Rose's "Serio-comic war map for the year 1877" portrayed the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...
as an octopus stretching out its tentacles vying for control in Europe and was intended to solicit distrust of the Russian Empire within Europe.Barber and Harper 2010, p. 164. This concept was used again in 1917 during WW I, when France commissioned a map which portrayed Prussia as the octopus. The octopus appeared again in 1942 as (Vichy) France intended to sustain its citizens' morale and cast
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
as the octopus, a demonic green-faced, red-lipped, cigar-smoking creature attempting to seize Africa and the Middle East.


Targets

Political persuasion often concerns territorial claims, nationalities, national pride,
border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...
s, strategic positions, conquests, attacks, troop movements, defenses,
spheres of influence In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military or political exclusivity. While there may be a formal ...
, regional inequality, etc. The goal of cartographic propaganda is to mold the map’s message by emphasizing supporting features while suppressing contradictory information. Successful cartographic propaganda is geared toward an audience.


Political leadership

Before the U.S. had entered into WW II,
U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As th ...
came to possess a German map of Central and South America that depicted all Latin American republics reduced to "five vassal states ... bringing the whole continent under their
azi ''Azi'' (''Today'' in Romanian) is a Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located i ...
domination." FDR viewed this as an open threat to "our great life line, the Panama Canal" and therefore mean that "the Nazi design is not only against South America, but against the U.S. as well." This map was undoubtedly propaganda, yet its target audience could have either been the German or American public. The map was first discovered by the British and then brought to the attention of FDR. Although Berlin claimed that it was a
forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbid ...
, the origin of the map is still unknown. Some Nazi maps were commissioned as an attempt to divert sympathy from the Allies from neutral countries. The Nazi map, "A Study in Empires" compared the size of Germany (264,300 sq. mi) to that of the British Empire (13,320,854 sq. mi) to argue that Germany could not possibly be an aggressor as her size was far smaller than the Allied nation. The Nazi regime also used maps to persuade the United States to remain neutral during WW II by flattering both isolationism and
Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine was a United States foreign policy position that opposed European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It held that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers was a potentially hostile act ...
militarism.Monmonier 1996, p. 107. "Spheres of Influence", created and published in 1941, uses bold lines traced around sections of the globe to send a clear message to Americans: stay in your own hemisphere and out of Europe.


Military leadership

Cartographic propaganda can be used to mislead the enemy and its military by distorting maps and the information they contain which is used in military strategic planning. In 1958 the Soviet Union launched the Soviet Map Distortion Policy which resulted in the thinning and distortion of detail in all unclassified maps. Then in 1988 the Soviet Union’s chief cartographer, Viktor R. Yashchenko, admitted that Soviet maps had been faked for nearly 50 years. The Soviet Union had deliberately falsified virtually all public maps of the country, misplacing streets, distorting boundaries, and omitting geographical features. These were orders administered by the Soviet secret police. Western experts said the maps were distorted out of fear of aerial bombing or foreign intelligence operations.


Referendums

Maps are often used to persuade the electorate to vote in a particular direction in referendums and are most effective when portraying highly emotive issues. A recent example is the map produced by the Vote Leave campaign for
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
, which aimed to persuade the voter of the vulnerability of the UK to uncontrolled immigration from the Middle East after a scenario of increased EU expansion. The use of graphical devices, such as the use of bold red arrows to suggest a threat of invasion, communicated a sense of fear and supported the theme of taking back control of borders.


The masses

Cartographic propaganda during the Cold War often appealed to the fear of the masses. During the Cold War period, maps of "us" versus "them" were drawn to emphasize the threat represented by the USSR and its allies. R.M. Chapin Jr. created the map, "Europe From Moscow", in 1952. The map was drawn from a different perspective, from Moscow looking onward toward Europe which made it easy for the map reader to imagine (red) armies sweeping across Western Europe.


The classroom

Adolf Hitler's schoolroom map of "Deutschland" in 1935 presented all the German-speaking areas surrounding Germany without borders, claiming them as part of the
Reich ''Reich'' (; ) is a German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word "realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emperor") and ' (li ...
.Barber and Harper 2010, p. 159. This gave the impression that the Reich extended over Austria and the German-speaking areas in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and even France. M. Tomasik created the "Pictorial Map of European Russia", which was published in Warsaw in 1896 and 1903, provoked an image of Utopia in Russia. The map was intended for display in Polish schools and was meant to appeal directly to the emotions of teachers and through them to those they taught.Barber and Harper 2010, p. 156. The map illustrated Russia as a nation rich in natural resources and failed to mention the
famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...
that occurred only five years earlier (1891-5) during which half a million people had died. The map also communicated the message of Russian unity; the nation's provinces were shown linked together by a new rail network and contributing to the nation's well-being.


Border disputes

The intentional misrepresentation of national boundaries by nations in border disputes is sometimes called "cartographic aggression". For instance, both China and India attempted to address the lack of treaties or agreed boundaries in the
Sino-Indian border dispute The Sino-Indian border dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute over the sovereignty of two relatively large, and several smaller, separated pieces of territory between China and India. The first of the territories, Aksai Chin, is administ ...
by issuing official maps with displayed borders beyond what each nation controlled leading up to the
1962 Sino-Indian War The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tib ...
.
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
n maps were issued from around 1969 showing the
Aozou Strip The Aouzou Strip (; ar, قطاع أوزو, Qiṭāʿ Awzū, french: Bande d'Aozou) is a strip of land in northern Chad that lies along the border with Libya, extending south to a depth of about 100 kilometers into Chad's Borkou, Ennedi Ouest, ...
, then-contested with Chad, as part of Libya. The dispute which led to long-drawn desultory warfare between the two countries was later settled by the International Court of Justice in 1994 which awarded the entire area to Chad. In the build-up to the
Invasion of Kuwait The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was an operation conducted by Iraq on 2 August 1990, whereby it invaded the neighboring State of Kuwait, consequently resulting in a seven-month-long Iraqi military occupation of the country. The invasion and Ira ...
,
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
i maps were issued around 1990 that showed Kuwait as a province of Iraq. In late 2012, China began issuing passports that displays a map showing
Aksai Chin Aksai Chin is a region administered by China as part of Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang and Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. It is claimed by India to be a part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory. It is a part of th ...
, parts of
Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...
, and disputed sections of the disputed sections of the South China Sea as part of China. In response, immigration officials in India, Vietnam, and the Philippines reacted by enacting a policy of inserting their own forms and maps into the travel documents of Chinese visitors.


See also

* Cartographic censorship *
Fantasy map Fantasy cartography, fictional map-making, or geofiction is a type of map design that visually presents an imaginary world or concept, or represents a real-world geography in a fantastic style. Fantasy cartography usually manifests from worldb ...
*
Mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or de ...
* Satellite map images with missing or unclear data * Bielefeld conspiracy, a humorous urban legend


References


Bibliography

* Barber, Peter and Tom Harper (2010). Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda, and Art. London: The British Library. . * Black, J. (1997). Maps and politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. * Black, J. (2008). Where to Draw the Line. History Today, 58(11), 50-55.
1G1-189160110
* *
Crampton, Jeremy W. and John Krygier. 2006. "An Introduction to Critical Cartography"
* Crampton, Jeremy (2010). A Critical Introduction to Cartography and GIS. Wiley Blackwell Publishing. * Guntram, Henrik Herb (1997). Under the map of Germany: nationalism and propaganda 1918-1945. London: Routledge. * Mode, PJ. (2015)
"Persuasive Cartography". The PJ Mode Collection
Cornell University Library. * Monmonier, Mark (1996). How to Lie with Maps. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. * *


Further reading

* * * Demko, G.J., and W. Hezlep. "USSR: Mapping the Blank Spots". ''Focus'' 39 (Spring 1989): 20-21. * * * * * * * * * * * * * Woodward, David. "Map Design and the National Consciousness: Typography and the Look of Topographic Maps", ''Technical Papers of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping'' (Spring 1992): 339-347.


External links

*
Mark Monmonier Mark Stephen Monmonier (born February 2, 1943) is a Distinguished Professor of Geography and the Environment at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University. He specializes in toponymy, geography, and geographic inf ...

Writings

The British Library "Magnificent Maps" Exhibition, 2010
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
* A.W.Ward, G.W.Prothero and Stanley Leathes (editors), E.A.Benians (assist.edit.)
The Cambridge Modern Historical Atlas, 1912
Cambridge University Press 1912. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cartographic Propaganda Propaganda by medium Political geography Territorial disputes Cartographic censorship