Maps can be a remarkably powerful tool for understanding the world and how it works, but they show only what you ask them to. So when we saw a post sweeping the Web titled “40 maps they didn’t teach you in school,” one of which happens to be a WorldViews original, I thought we might be able to contribute our own collection. Some of these are pretty nerdy, but I think they’re no less fascinating and easily understandable. A majority are original to this blog (see our full maps coverage here), with others from a variety of sources. I’ve included a link for further reading on close to every one.
1. A political map of the world, circa 200 A.D.
Click to enlarge. (Imgur)
What’s more amazing: how much things have changed over the last 1,800 years, a major chunk of the civilizational history of humanity, or how many of this map’s divisions are still with us today?
2. Where people are the most and least welcoming to foreigners
Click to enlarge. Data source: World Economic Forum. (Max Fisher/Washington Post)
This might be useful in planning your next vacation, although there are some big surprises in the results.
3. The world’s major writing systems
Click to enlarge. (Wikimedia Commons)
This map is a reminder that the world’s divisions and commonalities go much deeper than national borders. It also helps to tell the stories of a few major events that still shape the globe, the echoes of which you can see in almost every map on this page:European colonialism, the Arabic-speaking Islamic conquests of the 7th century, the Russian expansions of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the (still-ongoing!) unifications of India and China.
4. The best and worst places to be born
Click to enlarge. Data source: Economist intelligence unit. (Max Fisher/Washington Post)
Here’s how they decided which countries are best to born in and what this map tells us about the world.
5. World map of major religions
Click to enlarge (Pew)
Read here about how Christianity came to dominate so much of the globe and what that means today. Read below for more on the Islamic world.
6. The countries where people are the most and least emotional
Click to enlarge. Data source: Gallup (Max Fisher/Washington Post)
People in yellow countries are the least likely to report having emotional experiences of any kind, positive or negative. Purple countries are where people report experiencing the most feelings. If you’re surprised to see that the United States is among the world’s most emotional countries (but far from No. 1) or want to learn why some regions are so unemotional, you can read all about it here.
7. A European missionary’s map of Africa, circa 1908
Click to enlarge (David Rumsey’s historic map collection)
I have this one hanging over my desk in part because of its appeal as a historic document (the borders are tellingly rough) but also as a reminder of the colonial legacy in Africa, which European powers divided up a century ago with little respect for how actual Africans wanted to be grouped. Those arbitrary borders are still with us today, in part because African leaders agreed not to dispute them when they won independence. The borders contribute significantly to conflict and unrest on the continent because there are so many diverse communities forced together.
8. Where people are the most and least racially tolerant
Click to enlarge. Data source: World Values Survey (Max Fisher/Washington Post)
People in blue countries are more likely to say that they would be OK with living next door to someone of a different race. People in red countries are less likely. The mapsuggests some big and potentially surprising lessons for how race is treated around the world. But it’s an imperfect (and controversial) metric, so do read these five insights from an ethnic conflict specialist on the map and what it tells us.
9. The world’s most and least ethnically diverse countries
Click to enlarge. Data source: Harvard Institute for Economic Research (Max Fisher/Washington Post)
This shows the world’s most diverse countries, its most homogenous and, if you look closely, a whole lot more.
10. Where people feel the most and least loved
Click to enlarge. Data source: Gallup (Max Fisher/Washington Post)
Red countries are where people feel the most loved; blue countries are where they feel the least loved. Here’s the story behind those sadder, bluer spots on the map.
11. A Russian professor thinks the U.S. will break up into these four countries
(Laris Karklis/Washington Post)
Professor Igor Panarin became a minor celebrity in Russia when he first unveiled his grim prediction for the future of the United States, which was widely covered by Russian state media and treated as credible. Panarin said the United States would break apart under internal strain and form four different countries, with only one wholly independent while the others fell under foreign influence or control. I’ve included it both for a taste of how the United States is sometimes perceived abroad and to give American readers a sense for what it can feel like to have the outside world get your country so wildly wrong.
12. Who loves and hates America
Click to enlarge. Data source: Pew (Max Fisher/Washington Post)
People in blue countries are more likely to view the United States favorably; people in red countries are more likely to view it unfavorably. The map has some big implications for America’s role in the world.
13. How the U.S. and China compare on global popularity
Blue countries view the U.S. more favorably than they do China; red countries are the reverse. Data source: Pew (Max Fisher/The Washington Post)
This map is actually mostly good news for the United States. Here’s why.
14. China’s disastrous passport
My annotation of a photo of China’s new passport. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Sometimes maps can spark geopolitical events rather than just reflecting them, as China did when it issued new passports containing this map. Why the controversy? The areas I’ve highlighted in red are marked as Chinese on the map but actually are in dispute or are administered by other countries. This did not go over well.
15. Gay rights around the world
Click to enlarge (Max Fisher/Washington Post)
16. Where people are the most and least tolerant of homosexuality
Click to enlarge. Data source: Pew (Max Fisher/Washington Post)
What this has to do with gay rights.
17. Languages and dialects of the Middle East and Central Asia
Click to enlarge. Each color represents a language group, with shades for each dialect. (The Gulf/2000 Project at Columbia University)
The first thing this map shows you is the remarkable diversity in one of the world’s oldest and most storied regions, from Iraq in the West all the way to China in the East and Russia in the North. There are a hundred other stories embedded in here: the expansion of Iran beyond just Persian-speaking peoples, the fracturing of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the really stunning diversity packed into the Caucasus, which includes the troubled Russian regions of Chechnya and Dagestan.
18. Where people smoke the most (and least) cigarettes per person
Annual per capita cigarette consumption rates. Data sources: World Lung Foundation and American Cancer Society. (Max Fisher / Washington Post)
Read more here about Russia’s cigarette problem, which costs the country an estimated $48 billion every year, and about the other smoking trends seen in the map.
19. Economic inequality around the world
Higher gini coefficient scores indicate higher economic inequality. (Wikimedia Commons)
This map shows each country’s gini coefficient, which measures economic inequality. The red countries are the most unequal under the metric, and the green countries are the closest to nationwide economic equality. More here.
20. How the U.S. compares to the world on economic inequality
Click to enlarge. (Max Fisher)
Blue countries are more equal than the U.S., red countries are less equal. This map gives you a sense of just how severe economic inequality is in the United States; much higher than in any other developed country, and most developing countries as well.
21. Global crop yields are stagnating
One of four maps showing projected changes in major crop yields. (University of Minnesota)
A University of Minnesota study recently published in the journal Nature found that a significant share of the world’s crop-growing regions are seeing growth stagnate, slow or even collapse. They published three other maps; see the others and why they think it’s so important to “sound the alert” here.
22. The best and worst countries to be a mother
Click to enlarge. Data source: Save the Children. (Max Fisher/Washington Post)
A international NGO designed a complex formula to indicate which countries are better or worse for mothers. Click here to see what their formula measures and to read about the study’s implications for mothers worldwide.
23. How al-Qaeda is changing
(The Washington Post)
This map of core al-Qaeda and its affiliates tells the story of its recent decline, but it also reminds us of the group’s ability to continue branching out.
24. More than half of humanity lives inside this circle
(Imgur)
25. Legal systems of the world
Click to enlarge. (Wikimedia Commons)
One reason I find this map fascinating is it shows how British colonialism took the English “common law” legal system — once nearly unique in the world — and has now spread it across every continent. You can also see that religious law is unique to Islamic countries (although it didn’t use to be) and that customary law, once near-global, is now almost extinct.
