Cartographic propaganda
Encyclopedia
Cartographic propaganda
is a difficult concept to define . In place of a clear definition, we can approach the concept through the book "Persuasive Cartography" by J.A. Tyner. In the book "Persuasive Cartography", Tyner argues propaganda
maps are one of three types of maps that is understood as types of persuasive cartography
. The two other categories include journalistic cartography, which certainly will have some overlap with political propaganda
, and advertisement cartography .
Propaganda cartography in this sense becomes defined by its function. If maps are created for political propaganda measures, it can according to this categorization be identified as cartographic propaganda .
To distinguish propaganda cartography from the concept of propaganda
in a general sense, it is useful to expand on what cartography-literature sees as defining methods of map propaganda. According to Tyner (1973) and Thrower (2007) a propaganda map, the cartographer has to be "persuasive" Boria , and Tyner and Thrower , argue it is not distortion of scientific methods that qualifies a propaganda map. Rather it is the level in sophistication of what components the map holds. Tyner identifies three basic categories of maps which can be utilized to qualify the map to a propaganda map: scale
and generalization, projection
and lastly design and layout.
Scale refers of course to what ration the map-maker represents collected data on a map. Smaller scale forces a higher level of generalization. This is an example of why cartographers has found it difficult to conceptualize cartographic propaganda. Tyner presents two types of generalization cartographers can undertake, "objective-subjective" and "subjective-subjective" . In order to make a determination if a map falls into one or the other, it is necessary to examine the context of the map. Tyner argues over-generalizations in maps are typical examples of subjective-subjective maps. Selection of what is included is a second example of the subjective map-maker. Empirical facts inconsistent with an ideology can easily be selected out of a subjective map. Scale is a third example, where Tyner presents WWII-maps which depicted Japan and Australia to be of the same size.
Projection
, the method of presenting the spherical globe
on a surface, is a second cartographic tool which has been subjectively applied in map-propaganda. All maps with almost no exceptions need to include a projection, making it an effective option for the subjective map-maker, and the assumption that a lay-person would not be concerned of what projection any given map has . The effectiveness in a subjective sense is for the great effects a projection can have on size, shape, distance and/or direction. Perhaps the most known example of this is Arno Peters
' attack on the Mercator Projection
in 1972, arguing it is an ethnocentric projection .
The third basic cartographic tool which may be used subjectively is design and layout. Seeking attention from the reader and an effective conveyance of the message is what the main-objective of design and layout is.
. However, cartographic propaganda refers not to necessarily to the distortion of scientific methods. it is rather how the components of the map is put together and used . Jeremy Black, a historian, sees the rise of what he sees as cartographic propaganda to be ushered in with the modern state
(Black 1997; 2008).
Thrower cites Halford J. Mackinder as an example of applying specific projections to persuade the reader of what he is communicating through the map . Mackinder, arguably one of the more influential, or at least known, academics for the foundation of geopolitics
, used a very specific projection to make the American
continent appear peripheral on his “heart-land” map-model .
It is the field of geopolitics
in the interwar period in Germany
which Boria argues is a time of great development of “suggestive cartography”. Boria, by understanding the map as an inherent product of power, sees it this genre of maps as dynamic representations of power. He is also careful to emphasize the rise of this cartography preceded that of national-socialist German rule. Similarly Cairo agrees geopolitical cartography and its association with nationalistic symbology precedes the Fascist rise in Germany, and has its roots in the Weimar-republic (Cairo 200?). Herb argues in his book German geographers viewed the lack of skills in map-making as a cause of the devastating effects of the Versailles-treaty for Germany
(Herb 1997).
As where Herb, Cairo, and Boria sees a connection between nationalism and a production of maps, they do not argue for an explicit association between this development in cartography and fascism. Tyner more explicitly sees this period of geopolitical cartography development as a continuous process associated with Nazis and World War II
. In her book, she argues the development of propaganda maps are very closely related to the wider machine of propaganda by the Nazis (Tyner 1974). Valuable for this discussion, a categorization of the different types of propaganda maps used by the Nazi-government in Germany is presented. Tyner identifies four different categories of maps, where again it is the function that defines the map. Firstly, maps used to illustrate the condition of Germany as a people and nation is identified, secondarily maps with an aim at the morale of the Allied-side in the war by increased dramatic effects on the threat levels of Germany
, mental offensive through maps to keep he U.S. neutral in the war by changing the perception of threats, and lastly, maps as blue-prints of the post-war world.
In this period Cairo and Boria point out how this approach to cartography expands to Italy
, Spain
and Portugal
. Boria does however, explicitly argue the inspiration scholars from Italy find in this cartographic tradition is in the “positivistic trends of the German world” .
Jeremy Black points to how post-World War II
U.S. would modify projections to create a menacing image of the Soviet Union
in terms of a large state, and communism
as expanding disproportionately throughout the world. The April 1, 1946, issue of Time
published a map entitled 'Communist Contagion', which focused on the communist threat of the Soviet Union. The strength of the Soviet Union was enhanced by a split-spherical presentation of Europe
and Asia
, making the Soviet Union
seem larger as a result of the break in the centre of the map. Communist expansion was emphasized by presenting the Soviet Union with a vivid red, the color of danger, and by categorizing neighbouring states in terms of the danger of contagion, using the language of disease: states were referred to as quarantined, infected or exposed. More generally, during the Cold War, small-scale maps served to make dangers appear menacing: with Vietnam appearing close to Singapore
and Australia
; or Afghanistan
to the Indian Ocean. (Black 1997; 2008). Similarly, maps illustrating rocket positions used a polar azimuth projection, of course with the North Pole at its centre, giving the map reader a focus of the short distance between the two sides of the Cold War
.
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
is a difficult concept to define . In place of a clear definition, we can approach the concept through the book "Persuasive Cartography" by J.A. Tyner. In the book "Persuasive Cartography", Tyner argues propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
maps are one of three types of maps that is understood as types of persuasive cartography
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
. The two other categories include journalistic cartography, which certainly will have some overlap with political propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, and advertisement cartography .
Propaganda cartography in this sense becomes defined by its function. If maps are created for political propaganda measures, it can according to this categorization be identified as cartographic propaganda .
To distinguish propaganda cartography from the concept of propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
in a general sense, it is useful to expand on what cartography-literature sees as defining methods of map propaganda. According to Tyner (1973) and Thrower (2007) a propaganda map, the cartographer has to be "persuasive" Boria , and Tyner and Thrower , argue it is not distortion of scientific methods that qualifies a propaganda map. Rather it is the level in sophistication of what components the map holds. Tyner identifies three basic categories of maps which can be utilized to qualify the map to a propaganda map: scale
Scale (map)
The scale of a map is defined as the ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground.If the region of the map is small enough for the curvature of the Earth to be neglected, then the scale may be taken as a constant ratio over the whole map....
and generalization, projection
Map projection
A map projection is any method of representing the surface of a sphere or other three-dimensional body on a plane. Map projections are necessary for creating maps. All map projections distort the surface in some fashion...
and lastly design and layout.
Scale refers of course to what ration the map-maker represents collected data on a map. Smaller scale forces a higher level of generalization. This is an example of why cartographers has found it difficult to conceptualize cartographic propaganda. Tyner presents two types of generalization cartographers can undertake, "objective-subjective" and "subjective-subjective" . In order to make a determination if a map falls into one or the other, it is necessary to examine the context of the map. Tyner argues over-generalizations in maps are typical examples of subjective-subjective maps. Selection of what is included is a second example of the subjective map-maker. Empirical facts inconsistent with an ideology can easily be selected out of a subjective map. Scale is a third example, where Tyner presents WWII-maps which depicted Japan and Australia to be of the same size.
Projection
Map projection
A map projection is any method of representing the surface of a sphere or other three-dimensional body on a plane. Map projections are necessary for creating maps. All map projections distort the surface in some fashion...
, the method of presenting the spherical globe
Globe
A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon...
on a surface, is a second cartographic tool which has been subjectively applied in map-propaganda. All maps with almost no exceptions need to include a projection, making it an effective option for the subjective map-maker, and the assumption that a lay-person would not be concerned of what projection any given map has . The effectiveness in a subjective sense is for the great effects a projection can have on size, shape, distance and/or direction. Perhaps the most known example of this is Arno Peters
Arno Peters
Arno Peters developed the Peters world map, based on the Gall–Peters projection.Born in Berlin, Germany, he began his career as a filmmaker who studied American techniques of filmmaking during the late 1930s, and helped to revolutionize film production in Germany at the time...
' attack on the Mercator Projection
Mercator projection
The Mercator projection is a cylindrical map projection presented by the Belgian geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, in 1569. It became the standard map projection for nautical purposes because of its ability to represent lines of constant course, known as rhumb lines or loxodromes, as...
in 1972, arguing it is an ethnocentric projection .
The third basic cartographic tool which may be used subjectively is design and layout. Seeking attention from the reader and an effective conveyance of the message is what the main-objective of design and layout is.
History of cartographic propaganda
Though as Tyner points out in her book, map propaganda has materialized itself throughout history, a particularly well known example is the T-O map of the powerful church of the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. However, cartographic propaganda refers not to necessarily to the distortion of scientific methods. it is rather how the components of the map is put together and used . Jeremy Black, a historian, sees the rise of what he sees as cartographic propaganda to be ushered in with the modern state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
(Black 1997; 2008).
Thrower cites Halford J. Mackinder as an example of applying specific projections to persuade the reader of what he is communicating through the map . Mackinder, arguably one of the more influential, or at least known, academics for the foundation of geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
, used a very specific projection to make the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
continent appear peripheral on his “heart-land” map-model .
It is the field of geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
in the interwar period in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
which Boria argues is a time of great development of “suggestive cartography”. Boria, by understanding the map as an inherent product of power, sees it this genre of maps as dynamic representations of power. He is also careful to emphasize the rise of this cartography preceded that of national-socialist German rule. Similarly Cairo agrees geopolitical cartography and its association with nationalistic symbology precedes the Fascist rise in Germany, and has its roots in the Weimar-republic (Cairo 200?). Herb argues in his book German geographers viewed the lack of skills in map-making as a cause of the devastating effects of the Versailles-treaty for Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(Herb 1997).
As where Herb, Cairo, and Boria sees a connection between nationalism and a production of maps, they do not argue for an explicit association between this development in cartography and fascism. Tyner more explicitly sees this period of geopolitical cartography development as a continuous process associated with Nazis and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In her book, she argues the development of propaganda maps are very closely related to the wider machine of propaganda by the Nazis (Tyner 1974). Valuable for this discussion, a categorization of the different types of propaganda maps used by the Nazi-government in Germany is presented. Tyner identifies four different categories of maps, where again it is the function that defines the map. Firstly, maps used to illustrate the condition of Germany as a people and nation is identified, secondarily maps with an aim at the morale of the Allied-side in the war by increased dramatic effects on the threat levels of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, mental offensive through maps to keep he U.S. neutral in the war by changing the perception of threats, and lastly, maps as blue-prints of the post-war world.
In this period Cairo and Boria point out how this approach to cartography expands to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. Boria does however, explicitly argue the inspiration scholars from Italy find in this cartographic tradition is in the “positivistic trends of the German world” .
Jeremy Black points to how post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
U.S. would modify projections to create a menacing image of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in terms of a large state, and communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
as expanding disproportionately throughout the world. The April 1, 1946, issue of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
published a map entitled 'Communist Contagion', which focused on the communist threat of the Soviet Union. The strength of the Soviet Union was enhanced by a split-spherical presentation of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, making the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
seem larger as a result of the break in the centre of the map. Communist expansion was emphasized by presenting the Soviet Union with a vivid red, the color of danger, and by categorizing neighbouring states in terms of the danger of contagion, using the language of disease: states were referred to as quarantined, infected or exposed. More generally, during the Cold War, small-scale maps served to make dangers appear menacing: with Vietnam appearing close to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
; or Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
to the Indian Ocean. (Black 1997; 2008). Similarly, maps illustrating rocket positions used a polar azimuth projection, of course with the North Pole at its centre, giving the map reader a focus of the short distance between the two sides of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.