Maps as Mirrors and Blueprints

Lesson Plan for Introductory Collegiate Courses in History.

Introduction

This lesson plan and its accompanying materials are designed to introduce college students to the ways in which historians can use maps as primary sources. It presents a theoretical framework for reading maps–whether historical or modern–as both imperfect “mirrors” of reality and aspirational “blueprints” indicating the priorities and preconceptions of their creators. Through individual and group-work and whole-class discussion, it asks students to apply this framework to historical maps, using these documents as primary sources to better understand the historical context in which they were created. Designed to take place in one hour-long class period (with independent work before and afterwards) this lesson is intended to teach students how to read maps as historical sources and interrogate them critically.

Assigned Reading

Before class, students should complete the Mirrors and Blueprints Reading that accompanies this lesson plan, along with Katherine Hart’s “Reading Historic Maps: A Practical Guide.”

Class Meeting

Teacher’s Notes

This lesson is designed to “unsettle” students’ thinking about maps in two ways. First, it challenges the prevailing notion that maps are objective documents: scientific and complete representations of the territory they depict. Instead, students will work to understand maps as selective and subjective documents that reflect choices made by cartographers about what geographic features to prioritize and minimize. Second, this lesson posits that since making maps is an exercise in making choices about what to emphasize and what to exclude, these choices necessarily reveal the conscious priorities and unconscious biases of cartographers and those who commission them. By analyzing a cartographer’s choices, we can therefore draw conclusions about their cultural and historical context: the map serves as both a distorted mirror of reality and a blueprint for the way they wish the world to be.

This lesson is intentionally designed so that students practice this method of subjective map analysis twice: first on a modern map of an area with which they should be relatively familiar (your university and its environs), and second on a historical map. Beginning with a familiar example provides students with an underlying knowledge base and level of comfort, helping them make the conceptual leap that “the map is not the territory.” Once they have practiced this concept with a contemporary example, students will be more prepared to apply the same intellectual framework to historical contexts and questions that they find less familiar.

Exercise One: Campus Map

To begin, show the class a professional map of your campus (one can typically be found on your university website). In small groups, have students discuss the following questions:

What geographic features does this map emphasize, and what cartographic techniques does it use to do so?
- Note: Common cartographic techniques for emphasizing features include using larger and bolder labels and icons and putting these features in the center of the map frame.
What features does this map minimize or exclude entirely, and what cartographic techniques does it use to do so?
- Note: Common cartographic techniques for minimizing features include using smaller and fainter labels and icons and putting features towards the margins of the map frame.

Reconvene as a whole class and ask each group to share their answers. Make a list on the board of the features for each category above.

After your lists are complete, remind students of the central metaphor of mirrors and blueprints from the assigned reading: the choices cartographers make tell us important things about the ways that they think about space. Like fun-house mirrors, maps distort reality through the filters of the cartographer’s own worldview and cultural preconceptions, both of which are firmly rooted in their historical, cultural, and socio-economic context. At the same time, maps can serve either intentionally or unconsciously as blueprints for reality, presenting an idealized view of the way space should be divided, administered, and used.

As a class, discuss the following prompt: What do this cartographer’s design choices say about the way that they (and the people who hired them) think about this space? What uses of or ways of interacting with this space do they see as most valuable or important? In what ways does the map oversimplify or omit the realities of the space it depicts?

Examples

Because you will be using a map of your campus, the topics of discussion will vary. The following examples are based on this campus map of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill available on this page, and are meant to illustrate the general types of analysis this exercise is meant to stimulate.

The map emphasizes the road network and parking garages but omits other transportation networks (such as foot or bicycle paths and public transit routes). This arguably reflects the emphasis placed on private automobile ownership in modern American society.
The map emphasizes buildings (which are clearly labeled, categorized, and shown in outline) but not natural spaces (which are only faintly labeled, where indicated at all). This reflects an administrative priority on built structures and the activities that take place inside them, at the expense of other components of university life.
The map subtly emphasizes locations associated with Student Stores and Carolina Dining Services (which receive additional black “call-out boxes” for their labels and appear at the top of the legend).
The map implies a clear “center” to campus: the bell tower and football stadium. In order for these features to appear in the center of the map, the distance to the power plant on Cameron Avenue is elided with a “700 feet” marker, and parts of campus even further afield are relegated to insets on the second page, minimizing their importance in campus life.
North on the map is rotated to align campus with the grid of Chapel Hill’s major commercial streets (Franklin and Columbia), indicating the importance of the businesses there. At the same time, labeling in this business district is very restrained: it’s interesting that CVS Plaza is named but not shown!
The limited selection of non-university buildings to appear on this map is similarly indicative of the cartographer’s perceptions of what, apart from the university itself, “matters.” Note that the State Employees Credit Union is shown (but no other banks), as is the US Post Office and District Court (but no other civic or administrative structures).

Exercise Two: Historical Map

In this second exercise, you will apply the same techniques and skills from exercise one to a more challenging topic: the analysis of a historical map. Show the class GHDI’s map of South Africa (c. 1890). Because this map will be less familiar to your students, begin your discussion as a whole group with some basic questions to establish the maps geographic and historical context.

What territory does the map depict?
When and where was the map made?
What do you think was this map's main purpose?

Then, repeat the steps of the exercise above. In small groups, have students discuss:

What geographic features does this map emphasize, and what cartographic techniques does it use to do so?
What features does this map minimize or exclude entirely, and what cartographic techniques does it use to do so?

Reconvene as a full class and have groups share their answers, then discuss:

What do this cartographer’s design choices say about the way that they (and the people who commissioned them) think about this space? What uses of or ways of interacting with this space do they see as most valuable or important? In what ways does the map oversimplify or omit the realities of the space it depicts?

Examples

As above, the following examples are not meant to be comprehensive, but to indicate the general types of analysis you should encourage from your students.

The eastern edge of Germany’s colonial holdings lacks the hard border that you see on almost all other colonies on the map, instead fading gently into a lighter blue. This may represent Germany’s imperial ambitions to push their control further inland from the coast.
The colored shading on this map only recognizes European colonial regimes; African polities are not shown as states, indicating colonialist disregard for their legitimacy. Note in particular the case of Zululand in the east.
Interestingly, the map is centered on the British Cape Colony, rather than on Germany’s colonial possessions, which appear towards the map’s periphery. This may indicate Britain’s geopolitical dominance in the region, particularly given that the map was produced by a German cartographer for German audiences.
In many places, the map shows the imposition of European placenames on the African landscape, a practice of linguistic colonialism that marginalized or erased native toponyms.
The map emphasizes cities and towns at the expense of rural populations and indicates the (typically urban) structures of colonial administration.
The contents of the map are notably denser along the coast when compared with the African interior; while this may reflect historical demographics in part, it likely also reflects the cartographer’s preconception that the coastal parts of Africa (where European colonizers were more likely to live) were fundamentally more important.

Take-Home Assessment (optional)

Now that students have practiced as a group the skills of reading and interpreting historical maps, they may apply these skills independently in a written assessment.

Have students review one of the following maps from German History in Documents and Images or German History Intersections and complete the Mirrors and Blueprints Worksheet (.docx / .pdf) included with the lesson materials.

Maps as Mirrors and Blueprints

Introduction

Assigned Reading

Class Meeting

Teacher’s Notes

Exercise One: Campus Map

Examples

Exercise Two: Historical Map

Examples

Take-Home Assessment (optional)

Further Readings/Resources