The Spread of Slavery in the United States

In September, 1861 the U.S. Coast Survey published this large map showing the enslaved population by county. It was "sold for the benefit of the sick and wounded soldiers of the U.S. Army."

The image above is from an article in Smithsonian. Here is a detailed view showing part of the Carolinas with the county names and enslaved populations.

The articles' author, Lincoln Mullen created a series of animations.

On his own page are some interactive maps where you can choose variables such as free African Americans and total population and choose your year from a slider at the bottom. This allows you to see the high slavery numbers in 1790 in places like eastern New York and Northern New Jersey.

Or see where free African Americans were clustered in different years.

Here is one showing all free persons by percentage from 1810.

You can explore on your own here and read more about the westward expansion of slavery here.

Turkey and Syria Earthquake Response

Parts of Turkey and Syria have been devastated by the strongest, most destructive earthquake in the recorded history of those countries. The earthquake has been followed by over a hundred powerful aftershocks, including one almost as powerful as the original magnitude 7.8 quake.

Map via Ajazeera

One of the many problems hampering response is the lack of adequate mapping in many of the areas. While many high profile large buildings have collapsed there are also buildings that are not mapped and those can get missed by response teams. The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap team is recruiting volunteers to help locate buildings and streets via aerial and/or satellite images. No experience or travel is needed, people can do this work at home. This map via Twitter shows (in the text box) the percentage of and number of buildings and streets mapped in each area. It also identifies where mapping needs are most urgent. The buildings in light blue unfortunately cover up the other information on the map.

If you want to help map these areas you can go to this task.

Icelandic Glacier Web Portal

This web portal is a collaborative effort by Icelandic institutes, agencies, companies, societies and private persons to display an overview of glaciological research and variations of Icelandic glaciers. The portal provides access to measurements, observations and photographs over an interactive map.

Zoom in for more details. Photographs can be seen by clicking the camera icons.

A click on the snowflake icons will bring up a description of each glacier including dimensions, measurements and a description of what rivers or other water bodies emerge from the glacier. There is also a measurement tab where you can see how much the area of each glacier has (in most cases) decreased over time.

You can also turn on the historical outlines of each glacier to see how they have shrunk over time from circa 1890 (yellow lines) to 2019 (red lines).

There is much more to explore including graphs, links and photos here.

Suginami Walking Tours

Suginami is a ward on the west side of Tokyo. The Experience Suginami web page features a series of walks and tours with some nice maps. 

The Historical Walk shows not only the shrines and gardens of the neighborhood, but also shows where you can get ramen and "healthy" soy donuts. 

The Subculture Rock Walk shows the clubs, studios record and comic stores and other sites, as well as the nearby train stations.

The Smile-Pearl Walk takes you through the Asagaya neighborhood from the Smile Hotel to the Pearl Center.

This is extremely helpful because everyone needs a cup of smiling panda coffee.