Maps and the City

Today is the 500th birthday of cartography hotshot Gerardus Mercator who the Dutch love to claim as a ‘sort of Dutch’ cartographer. He was born in the Low Countries in 1512, but his birth town is in Belgium. So credits for the Mercator projection will have to go to our neighbours: la Belgique, 12 points! To celebrate his birthday various activities will take place throughout the year. The Mercator2012 project will keep you updated about the diversity of projects during 2012.

So, drink one on Mercator tonight, because he is a figure of big importance for map making. Happy mapping Gerardus!

I love the BBC for the documentaries they make, and loved them even more last year when they decided to dedicate a series to the subject The Beauty of Maps. No suprise there, I was überexcited! There are four episodes, all dealing with another type of maps in a different period of time. The documentary is shot beautifully, with an absolute lead role for the incredible map collection of the British Library in London, great music and various map people in it. Because one of the episodes is on Cartoon Maps – the topic of my History MA thesis – I got involved as well. Great fun to be providing information and I couldn’t have been more proud: they asked me to be ‘on the show’ as well. So there was my television debute, on BBC Four, in the Beauty of Maps. Great fun! Episode 4 covers Cartoon Mapping of Europe in the 19th century: the century of upcoming nationalism and increasing tension in Europe. The maps by creator Frederick W. Rose are phenomenal in their design, colour use and witty comments. I’ll dedicate another blog entry to his maps, for now I just want to share the great website of the BBC Four series with you, where different maps can be explored and information is provided (there is also a special school programme for teachers)!

And oh yes dear, you can check all episodes on YouTube: