Why Do Map Makers Lie?

HumanitiesMYP1Shannon Cadwell

Contents

Map Makers lie for many reasons such as….

Insufficient Knowledge For Ease of Use To Hide Information The Area is Too Complicated Old Maps Just an Opinion

Insufficient Knowledge Some map makers do not

want to lie but, do not know enough about the place they are mapping.

For instance, before people knew what the earth looked like, map makers made maps that were incorrect. They did not know otherwise.

For example, when people thought the earth was flat, or before they had discovered Australia.

For Ease Of Use Maps are made for certain purposes

so their scale and details are for that purpose. A map maker might show water depth for a map designed to be used for sailors but leave it off if making a map for a airplane pilot.

One map would be “wrong” or incomplete if used for the wrong thing.

Maps might only include what is needed to make them “user friendly”.

For example some people in Australia don’t like always having to look at the bottom of the map just to see their country. So a man made a map that had Australia on the top of the map instead of the bottom.

Hiding Information Some map makers lie because

they do not want something to be found.

For example a treasure map, sometimes the pirate doesn’t want anyone to find his treasure so he draws a false map.

When early explorers first discovered the Americas, they purposely drew maps wrong so that ship Captains from other countries couldn’t claim and colonize the same areas.

Countries still sometimes have secret maps that show areas they don’t want other countries to know about.

The Area Is Too Complicated Sometimes the map

makers lie or leave things out because the area is too complicated to include everything on the scale they are using.

For example some big cities only include the main roads instead of all the side roads because it is just too complicated to draw all the details.

Old Maps Some maps are accurate at the

time that they get published, but then over the years the map becomes inaccurate.

For example if there was a forest on a map and later the forest was cut down, then the map would be incorrect.

Maps made before 1991 Show East Germany and the Soviet Union but neither country still exists.

You should always make sure you have an updated map or you could get lost.

Check the legend to see when a map was made.

Just An Opinion Some map makers lie because they

are expressing an opinion or idea. For instance in this picture the map

maker is expressing that Russia has lots of tentacles able to threaten many parts of Europe at once.

Another example is maps made in Iran or other Arab countries sometimes don’t show Israel because they don’t believe it should exist. It does exist but for political reasons maybe they don’t want to show it.

The same is true of disputed borders. Some countries don’t agree about where the borders are so they draw it differently.

The way the border on the map is shown determines a county’s mineral or fishing rights.