mirror maps

A society's maps allow for an interesting semiotic analysis

Mercator projection was developed in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator as a navigation tool. Like the Peters map, the grid is rectangular and lines of latitude and longitude are all parallel. The Mercator map was designed as an aid to navigators since straight lines on the Mercator projection are loxodromes or rhumb lines -- representing lines of constant compass bearing -- perfect for "true" direction. If a navigator wishes to sail from Spain to the West Indies, all they have to do is draw a line between the two points and the navigator knows which compass direction to continually sail to reach their destination.

The Mercator map has always been a poor projection for a world map yet due to its rectangular grid and shape, geographically illiterate publishers found it useful for wall maps, atlas maps, and maps in books and newspapers published by non-geographers. It became the standard map projection in the mental map of most westerners. The argument against the Mercator projection by the pro-Peters folks usually discusses its "advantage for colonial powers" by making Europe look a lot larger than it actually is on the globe.

German historian and journalist Arno Peters (his Ph.D. dissertation focused on political propaganda) called a press conference in 1973 to announce his "new" map projection that treated each country fairly by representing area accurately. The Peters projection map utilized a rectangular coordinate system that showed parallel lines of latitude and longitude. Skilled at marketing, Arno claimed that his map more fairly displayed third world countries than the "popular" Mercator projection map, which distorts and dramatically enlarges the size of Eurasian and North American countries. The media had a field day with this new map that supposedly made things right for the oppressed people of the world.

Maps are bias, as long as we know this it's OK.