Mapping The Surf

Malin and Mizen is a company that makes specialty maps like the California Surf Map 

 I love the wavy lines and details showing ideal wind and swell directions, coordinates, shark sightings, etc. The hand drawn details on the land are also very nice. 

The company is named for Malin and Mizen Head, the northernmost and southernmost points in Ireland. Here you can see North Malin from the Irish Surf Map. 

They make maps for different sports, history and beer and wine. Here is part of the Irish Pub Map. The x indicates where hot food is available. 

Here is some detail from the California Vineyard Map, the letters indicate grape types and the other symbols are for visiting and tasting information. 

There are also many swimming and golf maps. 

Other surf maps include Australia with its varied topography. Kangaroos and ostriches dot the land. 

Finally, closer to home (for me) is New Jersey. 

 

Letts’s Bird’s Eye View of the Approaches to India

Is this a map, a landscape painting or a beautiful piece of propaganda?

This panoramic map was produced at the beginning of the 1900’s in London by W. H. Payne for Letts, Son & Co., a British stationary and map seller. The perspective is from a hilltop in British India, now Pakistan, overlooking Afghanistan. Two British soldiers in the foreground are looking out over Kandahar and other lands yet to conquer. In the far distance, along the Amu Darya (once known as Oxus River) lies the boundary of Russian territory.

The Great Game was an 18th Century rivalry between the British and Russian Empires. This map was produced in that milieu with both sides vying for control over central Asia. The British aimed to create a protectorate in Afghanistan to prevent Russia from having access to the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Sea. Eventually borders were agreed upon but not entirely as seen below. The line along the western frontier is boundary of Persia, now Iran.

The dominant mountain in the far distance looks a bit fanciful but may be inspired some of the peaks around Azhdar National Park.

After failing to conquer these lands the British eventually settled for Afghanistan as an independent buffer state between the empires.

Tracking the Disappeared

 The United States Disappeared Tracker is a new Tableau visualization from Danielle Harlow. It shows where people have been taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

This map is part of a dashboard that “visualizes person brought into ICE custody when the trump Administration has demonstrated undeniable political motive/animus and/or the person has been denied appropriate due process, even if the charges are eventually substantiated in a court of law.“ 

Being a dashboard, there are also charts and lists of the disappeared. 

You can also hover over the map for details on some of the incidents.

 The data sources are not clear but 370 people just in Massachusetts?

The author is also working on an ICE Flights Tracker.

 

 

 

Revolutionary War Semiquincentennial

Semiquincentennial is a word we will be hearing quite a bit over the next few years as the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary. The Revolutionary War’s 250th anniversary will be marked on April 19th of this year. On that day in 1775 British forces exchanged gunfire with local militia in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts while attempting to seize munitions stored by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, an alternate government set up by colonist outside of Boston. These skirmishes became full scale battles forcing the British to evacuate back to Boston.

This map is literally close to home for me as I live along the route.

-via US Army

The map above is from the US Army which will also celebrate its semiquincentennial this year.

The route through Lexington and Concord, known as the Battle Road is where thousands of Colonial and British troops fought a bloody battle on that day. This area is now known as Minute Man National Historic Park. The park’s web site provides a nice interactive map where you can click around the various historic sites within.

To see the upcoming commemorations and related events visit Revolution 250 online.

 

 

 

Wall Street Before the Wall

This bird-eye diagram of lower Manhattan appeared in a Harpers Magazine article from 1908 titled “The Story of a Street.” 

In 1844 the Dutch governor of New Amsterdam ordered the town’s citizens to construct a cattle guard at the north end of the settlement to keep the cattle in and the Indians out. Lower Manhattan, beforeland fillingwas much narrower than it is today. The cattle guard may have stretched all the way from the East River to the North (now Hudson) River but at a minimum extended from Pearl St to Broadway, covering most of this distance.

The original guard was likely made of trees that had been cut down and piled up. There were approximately two hundred houses within this enclosed area. After some peaceful years, the administration began to feel more of a threat from the Indians and the British. A wooden fence was ordered built about 40-50 feet south of the cattle guard, along the southern line of what would become Wall Street. There were two gates in the wall to allow for commerce, one at Broadway and another at Pearl St.

A couple of years later, seeing how much of the wall had been chopped down by residents for firewood, the barricades were rebuilt. This did not stop the British, who came by sea and were welcomed by many residents after suffering much misrule from the Dutch. As the city grew and wall maintenance costs mounted, pressures mounted to take the wall down. Real estate speculators built lots to the north and finally, in 1699 New York ceased to be a walled city.

Some interesting items from the map include the Bowerie (Bowery), an antiquated Dutch word for farm that was north of the cattle guard and the Heere Graft canal, now Broad Street. The cattle guard was interrupted by this canal.

 

Unrelated side note: I hate self promotion so I regret to inform you that Map of the Week is now the Number One Cartography Blog according to Feedspot. They even gave me a badge. You can see it on the sidebar but also here it is below.

Their rankings are determined by “relevancy, authority, social media followers & freshness“ so I guess I’m feeling pretty fresh! I know many of the other people on their list and I am quite honored to be among them, let alone ranked above them. Thanks to all you readers for helping make me relevant and fresh!