Latest Articles

Latest Articles

The newest essays, interviews, and features from Big Think.

n China is flexing its economic muscle nowadays, a process the country itself terms a peaceful rise. One wonders what will happen when China will have ‘risen’: to what degree […]
n The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901. Its constitution provides for the creation of new states, also by subdividing extisting ones. Several proposals have been made to alter […]
According to Mercator, the North Pole was marked by a giant black magnetic rock
All Elephant and No Castle: a secret bestiary of the London Underground
Tolkien himself wrote that "as for the shape of the world of the Third Age, I am afraid that was devised ‘dramatically’, rather than geologically, or paleontologically.”
Yet another border dividing the Balkans, in Greek and Roman halves.
This map renames American states as countries with similar GDPs. It gives you a sense of just how wealthy the United States is.
n How delicious is this: obviously a sister-map to the one in posting #103 (‘EuropeFrom Moscow’), but this time applying an unusual perspective to the Cold War situation in Asia in […]
n n The frequently fascinating and highly recommended Catholicgauze (“a blog on geography, geographic thought, and cool geography links”) presents an interesting map showing the results of the first round […]
n A map that does justice to the strangeness of the Cooch Behar enclave complex risks either to be too big to conveniently post here, or too small to show […]
n Under the presidency of Sam Houston (1836-’38, 1841-’44) the then independent Republic of Texas almost came to a peace agreement with the tribal collective known as the Comanche. The […]
n Francesca Berrini: ‘With Us Or Against Us’, torn map collage on canvas, 12 x 9 in. n Maps are instruments, but in the eye of map aficionados they can also […]
n The Berlin neighbourhood of Wannsee is situated on an island cut off from the mainland by a number of lakes and canals. Before the unification of both Germanys, the […]
n A history of successive waves of newcomers arriving in New York City, working their way up (or sideways) to make room for the next wave arguably makes NYC the […]
When the invasion comes, head for the mountains. Sorry, flatlanders!
You should take a look at a website called www.motorwaymap.co.uk for an elaborate diagram of Great Britain’s motorways, along the lines of post #75 on this blog, showing a streamlined […]
An updated version of the famous United States of Canada vs. Jesusland map (see posting #3 on this blog). That map represented the outcome of the US presidential election in […]
This blog has been up since September 2006. In that half year, I’ve posted 90 maps, gotten about 1.000 comments – most of them interesting and/or favourable – and just […]
n n n n n At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Ottoman Empire was called the ‘Sick Man of Europe’ because it didn’t seem able to hold on to […]
n This recently unclassified, formerly top secret document released by the Russian State Archives illustrates (quite literally) the lengths the Soviets wanted to go to in order to win the Cold War: not […]