Maps and Miscellany

The Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History & Culture opens on September 24 – the latest structure to be added to the National Mall in DC. The Washington Post this week published a series of maps that depict the 200-year evolution of the Mall, from swamp to canals to a railway station to “temporary” WW II offices that stuck around until the 1970s.

Excerpts from the excellent article are below. The full story and 8 intriguing maps can be found here.

The Mall in 1860, before land was reclaimed for the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials and when a canal snaked to within blocks of the capital:

The Mall in 1940, when temporary WW II offices crowded the north side of the reflecting pool:

The Mall today, with the addition of the new National Museum of African American History & Culture immediately to the northeast of the Washington Monument:

This Thursday, Britain votes to remain in the European Union or to simply Brexit, stage left. In advance of Britain’s vote, which could reshape Europe once again, the Washington Post helpfully published today a very cool history of other amalgamations of European countries (or kingdoms, empires, grand duchies . . .) that resulted in past European unions.

The full article is here. Below are some blasts from the past that highlight previous combinations of territory that have shaped the political makeup of Europe. These selections include:

The predictable . . .

The combinations we learned in school, but immediately forgot . . .

And the obscure and charmingly insignificant . . .

For the record, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth apparently existed between the 14th and 18th centuries.

And it even included a Grand Duchy.

The Washington Post today reported on an awkward cartographic flub on a map of the U.S. by Carson’s staff. The graphic was meant to identify the states whose governors are opposing immigration by Syrian refugees. Not sure whether this goal was achieved, but we did learn from Dr. Carson’s new geography that:

• Maine has invaded Canada,
• “Vermont and New York now have hundreds of miles of new beachfront property,”and
• Massachusetts apparently wants to be much closer to the Canucks up north, as well.

Carson’s poorly assembled jigsaw map of the states was only mildly humorous. The far funnier element of the article is this link at the end to “27 hilariously bad maps that explain nothing” compiled by Vox. The absolute best of the bunch is this Aussie’s attempt at labeling American states:

More maps! What could be better?

Seasonal applicability, that’s what.

As a contrast to our more typical random interest in intriguing maps, this post features cartographic insight that’s particularly applicable in August, the last month to fit in some beach time during summer vacation.

Ever wonder what’s out there when you gaze out at the ocean while laying out at the beach? Of course not! You just want to relax, not answer asinine questions.

Nonetheless, the friendly folks at The Washington Post‘s Wonkblog have now answered this question that no one was asking (but that we now find intriguing).

Here’s a quick view of the East Coast:

Boston – home to a record-breaking 110.6 inches of snow this season – is across from . . . balmy Spain. Who knew? The other maps present additional perspectives, both globally and by continent (and the West Coast).

The full article is available here. The coolest figure provides the “across the ocean” view for the entire Western Hemisphere: