Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession (2010)

Episode Overview

Religious fervor once gave rise to stunning medieval maps that depicted not only the path to heaven and pilgrimage routes to Jerusalem but also fantastical creatures that consumed their parents. However, by the Victorian period, society's focus shifted to issues of race, poverty, and disease. Royal cartographer James Wyld created a world map that rated countries from one to five based on his perception of their 'civilization.' A map intended to assist Jewish immigrants in the East End unintentionally fueled anti-Semitism. In the 1970s, 'map wars' erupted when leftist journalist Arno Peters argued that traditional world maps misrepresented the developing world. In Zurich, Brotton engages with Google Earth about modern cartography, while at Worldmapper, he observes how social challenges like infant mortality and HIV are vividly represented through computer-generated maps that distort reality to reflect contemporary issues.