Chinese Dalian is Romantic of all

Becca, "the unproductive library aide", spent last fall in Dalian, China, where she was studying Chinese. Upon her return, she presented me with this lovely map fan (sucking up to the boss...)



"Chinese Dalian is Romantic of all"



In the northeastern province of Liaoning, Dalian is China's northernmost warm water seaport. This city and its surrounding territory were hotly contested by the Russians and Japanese. The Battle of Port Arthur (now the Lüshunkou port district of Dalian) in 1904 marked the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. See my earlier post on my antique Russo-Japanese War Map postcard.

Thanks for the lovely fan, Becca.

Last year she gave me these nifty postcards from Lüneburg, Germany, where she was studying German. (She's also studying Arabic!)

Speaking of studying Chinese... In the 2+ years I have been running this blog, no one has ever asked me about the background image. It is from the street map of Taipei, Taiwan, that I carried with me many years ago when, as a college student I spent four months in Taiwan pretending to learn Chinese.



I did not save the "unfaded" version of the map that I scanned for my background. Perhaps someday I'll dig up the rest of my memorabilia from that trip. I'm sure there must have been other maps

Fans previously on Cartophilia: I'm a Fan of Maps

Who Dat Nation?

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for conquering the United Countries of Football

Cartographic Constructions

Valerie Goodwin creates quilts that convey "a sense of place using aerial views and maps as inspiration. I enjoy working with both realistic and abstract imagery." In this "Tale of 2 Campuses" she depicts the Florida state capital of Tallahassee, and the cultural divide between the Florida State University and the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.



Her work is currently on exhibit through March 14 at the Gadsden Art Center in Quincy, Florida

Oxford

Just a postcard quickie. Two postcards from my collection -- Oxford, England:



The city of Oxford is most famous for the University of Oxford.



In the United States, many communities would like to be associated with the academic reputation of Oxford, England. I counted 17 states that have a town named Oxford. Two of them (at least) have colleges or universities in those towns. How many "Oxfords" have you visited?

Island on a Lake on an Island on a Lake on an Island....

In the Philippines, you can find the world's largest volcanic island on a lake, on a larger island, on a larger lake, on another (bigger) island.



Slideshow available on Treehugger

UPDATE: Josh Calder points me to the World Island Info blog that disputes The Philippines claim to the "largest volcanic island on a lake, on a larger island, on a larger lake, on another (bigger) island." Canada claims the title!

Thanks for the tip, Josh.

UPDATE 1/31: The controversy continues..

50 Equal States

Tired of little states being over-represented in the Senate? Do you wish that all states had equal electoral vote power in national elections? Neil Freeman at Fake is the New Real has a solution. Redraw all fifty states so that they have relatively equal populations:



Interestingly, the only state that gets to keep most of its original shape is Missouri. Does that mean the Missouri already has the "perfect" population to represent 1/50 of the US population?

Via The Map Room

Josh Dorman's Topographic Fleurs

Let's take a time out from sports and transit maps to take a look at mapping the soul. I am always drawn to artists who incorporate maps into their work. Josh Dorman often uses maps as an element in his paintings, or as in this case, he paints on the maps:


Four Fleurs
2008 acrylic on antique maps

The antique maps appear to be old United States Geological Survey topographical maps. Why paint on maps?

I collect outdated (pre-photography) textbooks, topographic maps, manuals, and documents. Paper that has lived a life and shows its age compels me to paint. I am intrigued by systems I do not understand and by information that is no longer relevant.

Josh's work is currently on exhibit at the Mary Ryan Gallery in New York. Time Out New York says:

Layering snippets of engraved illustrations redolent of Victorian encyclopedias over yellowing vintage maps, before adding painterly touches in ink and acrylic, Dorman conjures an imaginatively reordered universe teeming with organic and artificial life. Often transforming his topographical grounds into sweeping rural landscapes, he sprinkles each scene with incongruous groupings of flora and fauna, machinery and architecture, achieving a semi-improvised orchestration of multiple diverse parts into something like a symphonic whole.

HT to Kathi Flood

2009 UCF Conference Championships

Conference Championships this weekend in the United Countries of Football.

Congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. We'll see these two Football "Countries" fight it out in two weeks! Peyton Manning will play against his old "home team" (he was born in New Orleans, and his Dad, Archie Manning, used to play for the Saints).



So, were all these playoffs necessary? At the end of the day, the two teams with the best records in their conference go to the Super Bowl.

My early prediction is that the Colts will win another Super Bowl. But good on the Saints for finally making it to the big game.

History of Vietnam in Maps

"Curzon", one of the contributors to the always interesting international affairs blog, Coming Anarchy, has created an animated map showing the history of Vietnam, from ancient times to the present:


Click to see the animated version

This is only the latest in a series of historical geography maps from "Curzon". Other nations covered previously: Ethiopia, Poland, Armenia, Persia, Russia, India, Britannia, Sweden and Saudi Arabia.

Some Recent Magazines and a Book

For your amusement, a smattering of recent magazine and book covers using maps as an element of their design.

From The Nation: President Obama must decide on future American involvement in Afghanistan.



Stores Magazine suggests that Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico (VIM?) are the countries to watch for new muscle in emerging markets.



Time believes that California, in spite of being "an apocalyptic mess of raging wildfires, soaring unemployment, mass foreclosures and political paralysis," is still the future of American innovation and growth.





Finally, in his book, Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche, Ethan Waters maps out the way the United States shapes the expression of mental illness around the globe.