Geography Meme: John Snow and the Cholera Map

Frank at Very Spatial had some fun creating memes of John Snow.  This inspired me to make my own educational John Snow meme.

John Snow was a medical doctor who mapped out an outbreak of cholera in 1854 London.  His map helped him figure out the cause of cholera was water based (the point of origin of the outbreak was a water pump's well) rather than the "bad air" of urban living which was the accepted scientific cause at the time.



Snow's use of geographical thinking started the field of medical geography.  Countless lives have been saved by his research and spin-offs from it.

John Snow and Geography: Knew It, Mapped It, and Still Stops Epidemics Around the World.

125th Year Anniversary of the National Geographic Society: The Stars

The most common visual image most people have of National Geographic is the yellow border of the magazine.  This iconic trim gives me the same sort of comfort an old friend can give.  However, there is another, much lesser known icon of National Geographic.  I like this visual very much not only for its beauty but also for its message of where geography's range extends to.

The image is of the stars visible from Washington, District of Columbia on the night of January 13, 1888 when various scientists gathered and agreed to establish a geographical society.

I love the visible Milky Way.  Image created with nakshART

The astronomical pattern is used by the National Geographic Society at its Washington headquarters.  The lobby of the main building along 16th Street Northwest is capped by the stellar arrangement.  The term "meet me under the stars" means "meet me in the lobby".

"Under the stars" From National Geographic Stock image archive

National Geographic, whether one likes it or not, is the heart of geography in the public's mind.  With that true then the headquarters of National Geographic is the center of the heart.  Having astronomy at the ground zero of geography sends a strong message.  National Geographic could have placed a huge map of the world but instead it decided to tie together the place, time, and space when memorializing the society's founding.  This is an affirmation that geography is not bounded to the Earth.  What a great message.  I have long advocated for geographers to study other planets and slowly but surely others are speaking up as well.  Not to do so would cause us to lose surface/terrain/resource studies on different planets to a spin-off field of geology.

When geographers do field research at night they labor under the stars.  My great hope is that one day geographers will work under the same stars but with different constellations viewed through other skies.

125th Year Anniversary of the National Geographic Society: Geographers' Memories

On January 13, 1888 thirty-three people gathered at night in Washington, District of Columbia and agreed to establish "a society for the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge."  Two weeks later on January 27, 1888 the National Geographic Society was incorporated.

It is undeniable that the National Geographic Society has had a massive impact on geography.  It is the public face of the discipline around the world.  Many of professional geographers, amateur geographers, academic geographers, students, and the general public have been impacted by the society.  It's outreach, most especially the magazine, has helped define what is geography.

I decided to ask other geography bloggers for a story about them and National Geographic.  Here are the responses.  The stories, including my own, show the good and the bad about the society.

Catholicgauze (myself) of Geographic Travels

I remember as a kid looking at a National Geographic magazine while sitting in my mother's bathroom.  The article was about a former National Geographic photographer.  I was so excited about the old photos that for some reason, the logic is not quite clear, I ran downstairs to my brother who was in the kitchen.  "I'm going to work for National Geographic!" I triumphantly declared.

A few years later I did work for National Geographic.  While my time was short I managed to write online news stories, help edit videos, and managed to meet a vast range of people.  The fact that the non-profit side of the society greatly suffers while the profit side of the company has so many more resources at hand was shocking.  When I was in the non-profit sector, I horded things like notepads and pens because there was none available for workers.  Meanwhile, when I worked in the profit division, things like wine, food, fancy headphones flowed freely.

My manager on the non-profit side would not tolerate animosity towards the for-profit side.  "Say what you will about the profit side.  They have not sold out like the Discovery channel which only shows reality shows.  The National Geographic Channel (which is only 50% owner of the channel) still shares the educational mission of the society."  Today the channel has more than sold out to the reality show formula.

My time may have been short but it was an experience I will forever remember and cherishes.

Matt Rosenberg of Geography@About.com

Through my Geography at About.com website, I had become quite familiar with the National Geographic Society's geography bee as I had contact with many young people who were preparing for local, state, and national-level bees.  I was the MC for a bee at a local elementary school and served as a judge at the state-level competition in Sacramento.  A year or so after I served as a judge, a publisher approached me to write a book about preparing for the geography bee. I wrote the book, based on my knowledge and experience at various bees and with winners.  After the book was published, I was informed by the state coordinator of the bee that I was no longer welcome to serve as a judge for the state-level bee.  Since that time, I still have somewhat of a distaste for the society and its heavy-handedness toward me.

Tom Howder  of Twelve Mile Circle

National Geographic has been a mainstay of my household for as long as I can remember.  Posters I put on my wall as I grew up weren't of supermodels or rock bands, they were the colorful, detailed fold-out maps tucked inside a lifetime of editions that arrived in our mailbox.  I subscribe to very few print magazines today in the digital age and National Geographic is one of them.  It's best appreciated on paper and usually I have to compete with my son to be the first one to read it.  The fascination has been passed along to a new generation.

Daniel Raven-Ellison of  Guerrilla Geography, Geography Collective, Mission: Explore, and National Geographic Emerging Explorer 2012

On his first memory of National Geographic

I'm really not sure which of my early memories are real. It's not a glamorous answer, but probably in the waiting room of a dentist or doctor's surgery before having an alien body removed from me. I developed a more intimate relationship with National Geographic when I got to Secondary School and started collecting the magazine to plan imaginary trips and create works of art for my walls. Something I loved doing and continue to do when working with young people in classrooms.

On whether or not National Geographic help inspire Mission Explorer and/or Guerrilla Geography

Without a doubt. National Geographic is a successful pioneer of popularising geography and its impossible not to be inspired by that. They being home important issues in smart ways too. Last year they published an awesome article on Koala deaths that helped galvanise support for them to receive more protection, a real achievement. Nat Geo is far more engaging for the public compared to many other explicitly 'geography' organisations and their reach helps them make real change happen. I want my work to have a similar kind of effect but with a twist of guerrillaness. Guerrilla Geography is all about radical, alternative, unexpected, unusual, innovative and creative geographies. There is much about National Geographic that is traditional and even conservative, this gives confidence to much of the public and funders so that the Society can do some fairly radical work to try and improve the world. Just take what they're currently doing in the Pircairn islands with my fellow Nat Geo Explorer Enric Sala. Ambitiously they're working with islanders to make the largest marine reserve in the world. This is big thinking that can bring about real change and is definitely on the 'guerrilla scale' in my book. They also support our work in The Geography Collective which is direct guerrilla geography education work that encourages children to explore and think about the world in new ways - both things that Nat Geo do too, but we're a little more warped (-;

On whether or not he sees National Geographic helping geographic literacy

I live in the UK and like much of the world we are lucky enough to have geography taught as a subject in our schools. It's not without its problems, but in many schools its taught in highly creative and innovative ways, using fieldwork, place-based learning, philosophy, GIS, citizen science and much more. Our fight is for a decent and flexible curriculum, better policy, reasonable funding..... In the US the situation is very different. Geography is largely damaged, misunderstood and undervalued. It's a core subject but the ONLY ONE WITH NO FEDERAL FUNDING, which is a DISGRACE. It's almost like there is a conspiracy against children having a decent understanding of their world. In the medium term the fight in the US is for the value of geography to be recognised, the subject to be integrated within the current system and for standards to be raised. Danny Edelson at Nat Geo Education is doing a great job of making the case for geo-literacy as an approach for threading geography across the curriculum while also finding creative ways to support green-shoots for formal and informal geography education. We should get behind Danny and his team in their efforts.

Evan Centanni of Political Geography Now

Growing up in the U.S. with a thirst for exploration and a passion for geography, my childhood intellectual pursuits were heavily influenced by National Geographic. The magazine, illustrated every month with striking photos and a map accompanying almost every article, was my window to the world. Now, as a university-educated and moderately-well-traveled adult, I can see that the writers and editors rely a bit too heavily on the romanticization of "exotic" peoples and places (even if that's not the term they would use). Nevertheless, the sheer power of National Geographic's passion for exploration and scientific understanding, delivered through its top-notch maps and always-fresh photography, has continued to secure the magazine a welcome place on my coffee table.

The National Geographic Atlas of the World has also played a huge role in the growth of my geographic knowledge since I was young, and I still see it as the gold standard for popular cartography. In some senses, I've grown beyond that book - I now realize that many of the world's most interesting examples of political geography are hidden from its pages, either by their transitory nature or by the organization's reluctance to truly follow through with its claim of illustrating all political features "as they exist on the ground" (for example, Taiwan is colored the same as China, and breakaway states are not always indicated on maps). As writer and cartographer for Political Geography Now, today I'm often working with precisely those cases not done justice by the Atlas. However, I still look to National Geographic's cartographic style as something of a holy grail, the highest bar I could set for the quality of my own work. If one day I can succeed at filling the gaps in the world map while also matching the professionalism and flare of National Geographic's cartographic team, I'll be one happy geographer!

Update: Z Geographer of Z Geography 

Thanks for asking for my thoughts on National Geographic! I have two found memories of National Geographic. The first, and the most persistent memory throughout my childhood, is undoubtedly the National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our World. This is the exact book because I remember the cover fondly. This book is probably one of a few reasons that I'm a Human Geographer. It offered the reader the usual: maps, currency and economic data, brief descriptions, and some pictures. I remember being absolutely captivated by the book, almost reading it every night. The pictures, they always had at least one per country or territory, always gave you an amazing glimpse into the place, the vistas or the people. The longest description and most pictures were of the United States, but I almost never read it. I spent most of my book-travels in Kyrgyzstan/Central Asia (there was an AMAZING picture of mountains) and Mongolia (since I've been obsessed with that country since time immemorial). This atlas ignited a lasting curiosity with the world and its people.

For the actual magazine, I remember the maps the most. When I was a wee boy an uncle fought with the U.S. Army in Desert Storm, though he was almost on the other side of the planet - I remember poring over one issue of National Geographic's maps. The map showed the primary towns and cities of Iraq, axis of advance of the Coalition's forces, and a pictograph of the relative amounts of manpower and material available to the Iraqis and the Coalition. Around the edge were pictures, including a few of burning oil derricks that the Iraqis set to stem the advance. During that time of uncertainty, I can't recall a single news story - and we had to have watched the news for hours and days at a time - but I do recall sprawled out on my living room floor, with the map in front of me, just poring over it.

My uncle made it home safe and between these National Geographic productions, I gained geographic literacy - at least for the human side of things! I couldn't really comment on the effectiveness of National Geographic for physical geography - I've never really considered myself one, not even good at it. But for an appreciation of the differences and similarities in human groups, you can't beat a good National Geographic atlas or magazine. And then there's the maps, I'm always surprised when I hear stories (almost like legends) of students and people who can't read maps, perhaps this is somewhat elitist to say in a world that tolerates illiteracy. But I think National Geographic fills an important niche in geographic awareness between primary/secondary school and university. Most importantly, it brings Geography in a most accessible way to millions of readers.

National Geographic Maps Bias During World War II

National Geographic is sometimes dinged for its pre-World War II support for Nazi Germany.  Its head management was progressive pro-Fascist/anti-Communist during the Great Depression, according to the excellent book Explorers House.  In fact, Douglas Chandler, writer of the 1937 article Changing Berlin (photos on Flickr, full article republished on French-language pro-Nazi website) defected to Nazi Germany to be a propagandist during the war.

However, once the United States entered the war the society quickly became solidly pro-Allies.  The legacy of the switch to pro-Allies is apparent when one examines the maps National Geographic produced.

For the October 1939 issues (map made probably right before the start of the war) shows all Nazi controlled lands including Germany and annexed Austria, Czech lands, and a portion of Lithuania as part of Germany.

For the May 1940 map Poland is still marked but its lands are given to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. In June the Soviet Union invaded the Baltic states and annexed them.

Once the United States entered the war the map changed.  The June 1933 map show newly German-annexed lands in the Low Countries as belonging to their pre-war owners.  Poland was completely restored and the Baltic countries remained untouched despite the Soviet claim of annexing them.  Even Danzing is reverted back to a free city.  Interestingly though pre-war gains by Nazi Germany stayed on the map.  The war was illegitimate but National Geographic still gave diplomacy its due.

National Geographic reverted back to recognizing on the ground reality with its 1949 Europe map which had the Baltic states as part of the Soviet Union.

Pareidolias and Geography: From Seeing Something in Nothing to Actually Seeing Something

Pareidolias are "psychological phenomenon" in which a person sees something else or additional things in a object.  A good example is children looking at clouds and seeing what looks like to be a dog, house, or any other random thing.  Some argue that trying to find hidden things in standard environments is a natural survival tool which allowed early humans to be on the look out for predators hiding in the bush and jungle.  Others, like Anglican theologian C.S. Lewis believed humans were still quasi-aware of a larger cosmos full of other things therefore some pareidolia were actually either hidden messages or our everyday lives and the cosmos intersecting (this belief is similar to the Muslim belief in Djinn).

This post is not so much about whether or not some parediolias (everyone is entitled to their opinion) are real but more about the relationship between pareidolias and geography.  There are several intersections with one surprising exception.

Micro-level Geography

Every here of places like "Buffalo Ridge", "Old Man in the Mountain", or "Fist Rock",wonder why places were named that and received the reply of "Well, it looks like a Buffalo."  When a physical feature looks like something else it makes naming, whether official or not, and remembering the place easier.  This level of colloquial geography is encountered almost on a daily level and is very familiar to most people.  While now days most geographic pareidolias are thought of as just coincidences, some parediolias fit into mythologies and stories.  The salt pillars in Israel are tied to the story of God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah while the Sleeping Giant in Canada is part of traditional Ojibway lore.  Today, the Bosnian "pyramids" are the biggest on-going example of a geographic paredolia (excluding all the Google Maps 'Atlantis found" stories which come and go).

Satellite imagery has opined up a new front for pareidolias.  People combing through imagery have found things.  Some are believed to be real by a few people while others are thought of as just funny coincidences. Examples of these are the face on Mars, Jesus as the King of the Jews in Saudi Arabia, and the Indian head with an iPod in Canada.

Macro-level Geography

The previously discussed ley lines haunt those who work in the subfield of folk geography.  Some people claim that places are interconnected and either a god or ancient man made the region's physical geography to be somesort of giant outdoor temple.  English seem to be the biggest fans of ley lines.  English have always had an exceptionalism about themselves and some geographers believe their island separateness is the root cause of this belief.  This exceptionalism is common when discussing the English love for nature and the island of Great Britain (i.e. geography).  Examples include the affection for natural Druidism (ranging from neo-paganism including Wicca to the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury being a member of a "druid" history club), Anglicanism (a 1500s-created church that claimed/claims to be the pre-Roman (c)atholic church of Celtic Christianity allegedly native to England) and ley lines.

Continental-level Geography

There have been very few claims of hidden objects in the shape of the continents.  The exception is Abraham Ortelius (1596), Alfred Wegener (1912), and others independently noting how South America and Africa look like they could fit together.  These scientists proposed that the continents once fit together and then moved apart.  This view was long viewed as pseudo-science until continental drift became the excepted theory of geography and geology in the mid-1900s.

*Bonus Section:  Art*

The artist Olly Moss created a series of retro-style movie posters.  One of the posters was for the film American Werewolf in London which use a pareidolia in a map.  Moss was able to fit a werewolf image into the map of the British Isles by subtly changing the English western coast line between Scotland and Wales, playing with the geography of the Isle of Man, and adding an extra island in the Irish Sea.  (Try to see if you can spot all the changes)

View Larger Map

Ferro Meridian: The Alternative Prime Meridian at the End of the Old World

View Ferro Meridian in a larger map

When Greenwich was chosen to be the Prime Meridian for sea maps in 1875, the main battle was between the British Empire who advocated for Greenwich and the French who pushed for Paris.  While these two titans battled it out, most countries actually their own national prime meridian (16th Street from the White House for the United States) for local maps.  However, when dealing with international/continental maps many Europeans used the Ferro Meridian.  Ferro, another name for El Hierro island, is the western most of the Canaries Islands, the last bit of European conquered land before Columbus discovered the New World.  As such it is the furthest western point of the Old World.  Putting the meridian here would put all of Europe to the east and ensure geocoordinates would be written in the positive (with Greenwich places like Madrid are 3.4 degrees West which is written -3.4)

However, the imperial sea might of the British was too powerful for Paris and Ferro supporters to overcome.  Besides not being strong enough, Ferro users used the island as a historic precedent and no one pushed too hard for the island's continued use.  The French eventually relented in hope that the British would agree to adopt the Metric system.  That effort of metrication failed; it took reforms started in the 1960s to get the United Kingdom to use metric but the change over still is not fully complete.

Today the Ferro Meridian is nothing more than a geographic/historic footnote.  There is a monument to the island's past near the western shore which is a tourist attraction for those who journey to the Old World's edge.

Topographical Engineers: A Heroic Field of Geographers

Recently I returned from a fun, relaxing, and educational weekend at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  In 1863 this small town was the site of the bloodiest battle in American history.  The battle resulted in the newly promoted General George Meade defeating the up-to-then undefeated General Robert Lee and turning the tide of the war itself.

One thing that many interpretation signs, museums, and books mention was how horrible maps of the Eastern portion of the United States at the time were, and the maps of the Gettysburg region were no different.  What the generals at Gettysburg, and many others during the Civil War, relied upon during the Civil War for cartographic knowledge were topographical engineers.  These officers were trained in cartography, physical geography, and military engineering.  They knew how to survey an area, analyize the topography to discover the best places to position an army, and how to prepare defenses.  General Meade himself was a topographical engineer and Lee used his own West Point geographical engineer skills to scout the land.

The United States Corps of Topographical Engineers, and then its merger partner, the United States Corps of Engineers, have trained geographers, many of which have majorly affected the field.  The men and women of these corps have impacted the science of geography and the world via there efforts ranging from mapping the West and using that fame to run for president, to developing the first satellite map, to using old tourist photos to crowdsource map potential battlefields, to remarrying mathematics and geography.  These are geographers who few know but have radically altered science and knowledge.

Fortunately for myself I am not the only person in awe of these topographical engineers.  There is a society of living history reenactors who educate by reliving the glory days of the Corps of Topographical Engineers.  These people, which I have zero affiliation with, dress up and act as topographic engineers and participate in educational activities.  These reenactors live somesort of educating, Civil War, geography trinity of dreams I have.

The Lost National Geographic Theme: Part III - The Barely Known History

I have finally heard back from the National Geographic Society concerning the recently found National Geographic March.

The official historian of the society wrote back saying that they do have one recorded performance of the march being played.  The one write up on the march, however, was only accessible via their employee-only intranet.  The text is copied below:

1935: The "National Geographic March"

Pomp and circumstance

Captain Thomas F. Darcy Jr., leader of the U.S. Army Band, composes this year the "National Geographic Society March, "dedicating it to Dr. Gilbert H. Grosvenor in honor of many years of cooperation between the Society and the Army Air Corps, especially in the development of aerial photography and the successful launch of the Explorer II stratosphere balloon.

The September 13, 1935 edition of the Washington Star carries an announcement that this new piece of music is "of a stirring military type," intended for use at any or all of the Society's formal occasions. Its musical movements, featuring each of a band's sections in turn, are supposed to reflect the world-wide activities of the Geographic, whether on land, sea, or in the skies. Captain Darcy, the announcement goes on to say, "plans to include it in radio and concert programs." Fischer & Brothers of New York agrees to publish it, and Darcy supplies them with three arrangements: one for military band, one for orchestra, and one for piano solo.

The "National Geographic Society March" debuts on Wednesday evening, December 11, at Constitution Hall, where an audience of nearly 3,700 is gathered for the Society's Hubbard Medal presentation to the Explorer II balloon aeronauts.
Despite Captain Darcy's good intentions, it will not be played much thereafter. Its musical evocation of the spirit of the Geographic will only be heard now and then on the odd formal occasion, and after Elmer Bernstein composes the "National Geographic Society Fanfare" in 1965--the familiar theme everyone knows now--it will lapse into obscurity.

Select one of the formats below to listen to the "National Geographic March":
The bit about how each section is meant to be played by different musical instruments is interesting.  I can really imagine how different instruments can give the march a much more international theme vice 1930s newsreels.  Sadly this is lost in the piano solo.

Meanwhile, reader Jan Nijhuis preformed the piece via his computer imitating an electronic keyboard.



Thanks Jan!  And thank you readers for enjoying this Geographic Travels find and investigation!

"East Sea" versus "Sea of Japan" - The Korean Lobby Loses the Battle over 1928

The Korean-American community is pushing hard to have the sea east of Korea and west of Japan, commonly known as the Sea of Japan, labelled as the "East Sea" or at the very least "Sea of Japan/East Sea".  A recent push to have all Virginia geography textbooks label the sea with "East Sea" failed (northern Virginia has a large Korean-American population and they form a powerful voting bloc).  The same lobbying group is expected to appear before the U.S. Board of Geographic Names soon.  Finally, they e-mailed me with their claims and demands.

The lynchpin of their argument rest on the claim that the sea was universally known as "East Sea" until 1928, when Imperial Japan registered "Sea of Japan" with the International Hydrographic Organization to show to the world that they controlled "the sea like a lake which was engulfed by Japan and occupied Korea."  (There are claim of older European trade maps showing both names but both sides counter each other saying those were provisional cartographic markings or are merely ignored).  The Korean e-mail stated that English-language maps labelled the sea as the East Sea up until Imperial Japan forced the name change.

I decided to investigate.  Using the Complete National Geographic (let me print full size maps, please!) I was able to find the March 1904 map entitled "Korea and Manchuria" which shows "Japan Sea".  This map was made six years before Japan annexed Korea in 1910 and twenty-two years before the claimed 1928 Japanese policy change. 

Japan Sea was used for the body of water 22 years before the alleged 1928 name change.  Image courtesy of National Geographic

Only since 2003 has National Geographic began to use "East Sea".  In the July 2003 map "The Two Koreas" the text states National Geographic uses "Sea of Japan (East Sea)" but gives preference to East Sea when displaying water within Korea's borders.

The Japanese Government has released official statements that the 1928 claim is bogus.  On this point the Japanese are right and pro-Korean forces are wrong.

The Lost National Geographic Theme: Part II - The Sound

Last week I wrote about acquiring the original National Geographic March written by Thomas F Darcy Jr in 1936.

So far there have been two developments.  First, I made contact with the historian's office at the National Geographic Society and they are looking into whether or not they have a copy of the march and if anyone at National Geographic is aware of the march.  So far it looks like the march was indeed lost.

Secondly, and more importantly for this blog post, I worked with pianist Grant Nakano to produce a music video of the song.  Here below, is the piano version of The National Geographic March, which was previously lost to time



The march is definitely tied into my thoughts of the 1920s and 1930s with its band sound.  I imagine an old silent newsreel showing explorers climbing a high mountain or showing some exotic land (a recommendation I may have to try is to attempt to read an old National Geographic article while playing this song in the background, maybe that will make the march "come alive").

I still prefer the "new" theme because its neo-classical feel seems timeless as opposed to Darcy's tribute song which sounds come from a closed era.



I will keep readers updated on whether or not the National Geographic Society truly forgot of the song.

The Lost National Geographic Theme: Part I - The Discovery

The National Geographic Theme by Elmer Bernstein is the closest thing to an anthem geography has.  Just sit back and imagine the glories of geography for a moment as you listen:



This theme from 1966 has resonated through the imaginations of generations.  It ignites the spirit of discovery and exploration.  It is National Geographic.  However, it is not the first National Geographic theme. 

The local library I go to has a librarian whose personal hobby is collecting old sheet music.  During a recent trip he told me how he had a copy of the "National Geographic song from the 1930s."  Interested, I made a deal with him to trade some geography books in my personal collection for the sheet music.  It was a good deal.

Jackpot! Scan of the cover.

The sheet music is entitled "The National Geographic March" and was composed in 1936 by Thomas F. Darcy Jr in 1936.  Darcy was the head of the United States Army Band during the time of the composition and had a long career in the military and military music.  The march was dedicated to then National Geographic President Gilbert Grosvenor.  While there is no official stamp of National Geographic approval in the booklet the name, cover, and dedication somesort of de facto approval.

Currently I am contacting people I know in National Geographic to see if there is any historian office I can contact about this music.  However, from personal knowledge, old National Geographic contacts, and an extensive internet search I believe National Geographic has forgotten this piece of music.

Sadly the music is beyond my piano playing "abilities" which my mother tried so hard to teach me.  I am trying to get some personal contacts to play the music for recording and sharing.  The sheet music is embeded below and I am willing to e-mail anyone a copy if they can aid in creating a computer music file or uploading a video of them performing the piece onto YouTube.



I will post any updates on my effort to find out more about this music and hopefully share the sound of this music so it can be heard again after being apparently lost to time.

Happy Birthday Nicolas Steno, Founder of Geology

Nicolas Steno: Sort of a geological Catholicgauze.  As Bishop he sold his bishop's cross and ring and donated the money to the poor.

Nicolas Steno was a Danish Renaissance man who believed in proving to himself long held beliefs and disgrading things shown to be false.  This strong drive for the truth led him to become the founder of geology and laid the ground work for the development of archaeology and paleontology.  His first major test was analyzing his Lutheran beliefs.  When Steno reasoned that Catholicism was more grounded in traditional Christianity than Lutheranism Steno converted.  He would study and follow his new faith all the way to becoming a bishop.

But geographers and other earth scientists better know Steno for his geological work.  Early on Nicolas Steno realized that glossopetrae – literally 'tongue stones' were not fallen moon rocks or weird natural growths but instead fossils of shark teeth.  Later on Steno discovered rock strata were actually layers of rock which formed on top of each other over time.  He stated the deeper one digs into the earth the older the material.  Before Steno this was too much a leap for scientists to realize due to the general scientific disinterest in anything below the Earth's surface unless it was for alchemy.  His discovery also ended the belief in an unchanging creationist Earth.  Since then all science has agreed the Earth is dynamic.

Steno's birthday is January 11th and his popularity has spiked today due to Google celebrating his life with a "Google Doodle" showing strata.

Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln: Patriots, Presidents, and Geographers

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln are well known as being three very significant presidents.  What many people do not know, however, is that they were all geographers.

George Washington's map of Mount Vernon. From Smithsonian Magazine.

George Washington spent his youth mapping and surveying much of northern Virginia.  His surveying mapped out much of the western Maryland-Virginia(-and now West Virginia) border.  The Library of Congress has an excellent online article about Washington's work as a geographer.

Thomas Jefferson was also a surveyor but he did so much more.  During the Revolutionary War he managed to take time out from being governor of Virginia to write his famous regional geography text book Notes on the States of Virginia.  During his presidency he commissioned the famous Lewis & Clark expedition.  Earlier, as ambassador to France he commissioned a moose hunting trip in New Hampshire to disprove French environmental determinism.

Abraham Lincoln briefly was the county surveyor for Sangamon county, Illinois.  Lincoln soon returned to his law practice and politics which were his love.  However, he stated his geography work as land surveyor "produced bread and kept body and soul together."

Geospatial Revolution: Episode I

Geospatial Revolution is the creation of Pennsylvania State University.  The show will be released in several episodes with the first one now online.  It follows the "geospatial revolution" which is the integration of geographic quantitative data with computers.  The revolution has led to the creation of GIS, GPS, Google Maps, and so much more.  The revolution is so advanced that it is hard for any geographer, whether they be human or physical, to do any geographic study without some geospatial computing.

Central Place Theory and Its Dark Origin

The development of Central Place Theory is one of the great realizations in modern geography.  The theory's acceptance allowed for better integration of quantitative data and mathematics into geography and allowed the field to regain scientific respect which was lost after World War II.  What few realizes or acknowledge though is that this important theory has its origins in one of mankind's darkest hours.

Central Place Theory deals with cities, their satellites, and other populated places.  Central Place Theory is defined, by James Rubenstein in "The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography," as "a theory that explains the distribution of services, based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services; larger settlements are fewer and farther apart than smaller settlements and provide services for a large number of people who are willing to travel farther."

Translating that into everyday speak, the theory can be explained as "rural people go to a town for certain goods that can be sold profitably in a lightly populated area.  For specialized goods that need a high population density to be sold profitably (a car sales man can sell more cars in New York City than Scotland, South Dakota) rural people and town people go to a city.  Thus the city is the central place for the city, towns, and satellite areas like suburbs, exurbs, and farms. 

Central Place Theory states that it would be economically unlikely that two major cities would be located close to each other because they would split profits from the outlying area (think of two trees competing for limited soil neutrants, they could not grow as big as they could if the other tree was not there).  However, it is possible for two cities to be spatial close if travel between two cities is difficult due to high density traffic or poor roads (think how Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland are so close together but a considered world's apart by nearby residents).

A simplified explanation of Central Place Theory

To figure out the fine points and apply Central Place Theory one needs to use mathematics and economics.  The use of these statistical sciences helped open geography up to the quantitative revolution.  Today, while the revolution has ebbed, many geographers like urban planners and GIS user still ground their studies in spatial statistics.

A Dark Origin

Central Place Theory was started by the German geographer Walter Christaller in the 1920s.  Christaller observed the spatial patterning of settlements in southern Germany and published his results in Central Places in Southern Germany.

However, Christaller was not able to apply his theory until a few years later.  He was unique, compared to other planning geographers, in the sense that he was given a blank slate and an uptopian goal: remake occupied Poland for his Nazi masters using Central Place Theory.  You see, Christaller was a member of the Nazi Party who worked for Heinrich Himmler in the SS Planning and Soil Office.  He even made a map showing how a German-settled Poland should look with central places and adjacent places (below).

The Central Place in the Eastern Regions and their Culture and Market Sector map for the SS Reorganization of Poland.  Click to enlarge.  From Visualizing a Map of Walter Christaller, Poland 1941.

Christaller did not see his dream completed due to the Nazi loss of World War II.  However, like many believers in National Socialism he made the small hop from German National Socialism to International Socialism (the Communist Party).  Today, Christaller is well respected in geography with his many admirers not only praising his theory (a valid thing to do) but also honoring him with with award and scholarship titles.  His theory is accepted with a few modification yet his dark past is rarely discussed in any geography class.

The Metric Systems' Meter/Metre: Once Based on Geography

The modern form of the Metric System, the International System of Units (SI), is the default measuring system for almost all communication, scientific, and military operations. In the past there were different forms of the Metric System which came and went. Few people know that the original Metric System's measurement of distance, the meter (aka metre) was based on the geographical distance between the equator and North Pole.

During the French Revolution the Enlightenment, with its rational drive and desire for universal standards, was driving science. Members of the French Academy of Sciences decided that a new measurement system was needed and one based on ten would make logical sense. The contemporary French measurement system was based on old, arbitrary customs and varied region by region.

The academy commissioned an effort measure the distance from the pole to the equator to form the new distance measurement unit. Two astronomers measured the distance from Barcelona to Orleans because they calculated this as being a certain fraction of the pole-equator distance. Once the measurements and calculations were done the scientists divided the calculated distance by ten million and created the standard meter bar. However, due to an error in calculating the curvature of the earth (the scientists assumed the planet was a perfect sphere) the meter was off by about twice the thickness of a piece of paper. This led to another two thousand some meters being necessary to travel from the pole to the equator.

Through a series of later reforms the metric system moved away from geography and more to physics. Now a meter is defined as the distance traveled by light in vacuum during ¹⁄_299,792,458 of a second (yeah).

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Part 2: Catholicgauze and the Metric System

Being a proud American I am a combination of weary and unfamiliar with the metric system. However, as a large portion of my readership does use the metric system. Therefore, all measurements given in the blog will be in the American system with metric given in parentheses.

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Part 3: Meter or Metre

The official SI guidelines state the distance unit is spelled metre. However, the American National Institute of Standards and Technology states the spelling is meter. Look for me to bounce back and forth on spelling because I have no dog in the fight.

Jefferson, the French, and a Moose: America’s First Battle for Geographic Respect

There is a unique story in United States’ past that deals directly with geography on several levels. Thoughts about European supremacy, environmental determinism, and real thoughts about evolution combined to create a geography-battle who’s importance has not been reviled by today’s academic geography fights. The cast of characters in this true story were none other than future American president Thomas Jefferson and famed French geographer Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon.

Buffon was already a famous scientist by the end of the eighteenth century for his many works on natural history and studies of various environments. His works into why similar environments sustain different flora and fauna helped found the modern field of biogeography. His studies led him so far as to endorse micro, but not macro, evolution.

The first geography battle of the United States of America was started when Buffon wrote in his Histoire Naturelle that the physical geography of the Western Hemisphere in general and America in particular creates degeneracy. The cold, wet climate with swamps and poor forest soils has made both humans and animals weaker and smaller than they would be in the Eurasia. He went so far as to say that certain important male organs were “small and feeble” because of long-term inhabitation in the Americas. Buffon’s ideas quickly caught on and became part of the first-wave of anti-Americanism in Europe.

Thomas Jefferson, serving as ambassador as France, knew this was more than a simple “Where is the Midwest”-style academic geography debate that had no real importance. Jefferson believed that if the environmental determinist theory of degeneracy in America caught on then no one would want to trade with inferior people with inferior goods and that immigration would collapse (who wants their great-great grandson to have a small and feeble organ).

Jefferson first responded with his famous geography text Notes on the State of Virginia. He then quickly followed up by having bones of ancient Ice Age mammals shipped to France. Buffon and others scuffed at these stating that these merely proved North America is where large animals went to go extinct.

A man of lesser will may have given up at this point but not revolutionary Jefferson. Jefferson commissioned General John Sullivan to go into the wilds of New Hampshire on an American safari. Sullivan spent two weeks hunting a giant moose in the deep of winter. After a period of time involving enlarging the animals by putting on bigger antlers and an international shipping disaster the moose was presented to Buffon and other French naturalist/geographers. It had the desired effect. Buffon apologized for his claim of degeneracy in the Americas and the United States won some geographical respect.