For those who don’t know the Strange Maps website, it’s a very interesting blog whose author finds maps of every type, be them world maps, country maps, or sometimes even invented maps, that tell an interesting story, and then analyses them. It can be quite instructive sometimes, but always interesting for fans of maps. Back in October of last year he made this post, about the maps of a London-based Bulgarian graphic designer named Yanko Tsvetkov, featuring how the citizens of several countries view other countries. See the Mapping Stereotypes Project here. It’s largely about Europe (you have maps of Europe as seen by the French, British, Italians, Poles, Russians, etc., and even as seen by the Vatican), but he also has the world according to Americans and some other maps. It’s really funny stuff, especially for those who are interested in political geography and who know a bit about international relations. So I’d like to share it with all of you.
I’m thinking of buying a mug with his maps “Europe/Italy as seen by Italians” as a gift for my Italian teacher.
Cool. But would it kill them to make it even larger, or in vector (.svg) format? I can’t read what Uruguay is supposed to say, for example, let alone the Falklands.
Some countries are hard to read on the “World According to Americans” map, but they’re the exact same on the “<Part of World> According to USA” maps. The Falklands is “British Riviera” while Uruguay is “Tupamaros”. (I just checked what that means.)
He probably makes them as vector images, but then publishes them in other formats.
Yeah saw that, just took some time scrolling down to that section. I don’t think most Americans know what a Tupamaro is. I would’ve called it “Argentina Junior.”
Or “Hockey Players.” Or “The Only People Who Understand Curling.” Or “Those Folks Who Don’t Play REAL Football.”
Actually, I’m wondering what The World According To Canada would look like:
The UK: Our Former Mother Country But No Longer
Australia: Kind Of Like Us, But Warmer
Greece: Like the Danforth in Toronto, But Bigger
Cuba: Vacationland without Americans and with Cheap Rum and Cigars
Florida: Our Escape from Winter
Arizona/California: Our Other Escape from Winter
Many tags in that map seem to deal with the US’s fear of left-wing movements gaining ground and eventually power in South America. See the “Evil Empire of Venzenweelah”, as well as Bolivia’s “Cuba del Sur” and Paraguay’s “Catholic Socialists”, not to mention the “Liberal Commies (allied with Iran)”. Uruguay’s tag is in the same vein. (Though I will admit that “Argentina Junior” is a good description of how I see them. ;))
I think “Vegetarians” is kind of synonymous with “Like Us, Only Wimpier”, which isn’t far from how Americans view Canada.
I could’ve also gone with “Argentina’s Canada.” You know, indistinguishable in most ways, but generally calmer than their neighbor. And as mentioned above, I was sorta making a Homer reference.
Canada would like to remind you that they are a separate country with their own opinions. They are not merely America’s hat. Canada feels that it is America’s tuque.
