Saturday, December 12, 2020

Three Great Interactive Maps

A Few Great Interactive Maps...

With technology advancements, content on maps and the maps themselves became digital, interactive, and more appealing as they’re incorporated in data analysis and reporting. Seeing location data mapped and included in visualizations has both enhanced understanding by more audiences and offered a valuable, new context.

Below are three notable data-driven examples that demonstrate the power of location data when paired with business intelligence.

1 - The invisible heartbeat of New York City

Visualization by: Justin Fung. This is amazing (you may have to refresh the page)

http://manpopex.us/


2 - All the World’s Immigration Visualized in One Map

Estimated net immigration (inflows minus outflows) by origin and destination country between 2010 and 2015.


 3 - Mapping America’s Futures

This is a great example of a well made data-driven interactive map.

Test possible scenarios for how the US population might change by 2020 and 2030. The results will change depending on whether you choose low, average, or high rates for future births, deaths, or migration.

https://apps.urban.org/features/mapping-americas-futures/#map



Friday, December 11, 2020

Maps That Show Us A New Perspective

This is an interesting site! The blurbs with each map are short and well written as well....

Land Use Throughout The United States

Air Traffic Control Zones Look Nothing Like The Country

Metric System Vs. Imperial System

Texas Doesn't Look All That Big Next Compared To Africa

Maps That Show Us A New Perspective >


Saturday, December 5, 2020

Ghost Towns of the World

This a phenomenal site! Navigate across the world using a Google Map that links to a myriad of wb sites on ghost towns, etc.

Ghost Towns of the World


Map location links will take you to sites with photos such as these:

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

US Westward Expansion and "Manifest Destiny"

What was Manifest Destiny"?

Manifest destiny was a widely held American imperialist cultural belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. 

Historian Frederick Merk says this concept was born out of "a sense of mission to redeem the Old World by high example ... generated by the potentialities of a new earth for building a new heaven". However, in contemporary culture many have condemned manifest destiny as an ideology that was used to justify genocide against Native Americans.

Historians have emphasized that "manifest destiny" was a contested concept—Democrats endorsed the idea but many prominent Americans (such as Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and most Whigs) rejected it.  Wikipedia 

"Our manifest destiny to possess the whole of the continent."
-attributed to Newspaper editor John O'Sullivan in 1845 

Manifest Destiny - the 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

1872 painting "American Progress" by John Gast
Book Cover
Satirical Pictorial Map Depicting Westward Expansion, 1828
Source

The Transcontinental Railroad

Nevertheless despite Lincoln's reluctance in endorsing manifest destiny,  the U.S.'s First Transcontinental Railroad was built between 1863 and 1869 to join the eastern and western halves of the United States. Begun just before the American Civil War,  the Railroad Act of 1862 put government support behind the transcontinental railroad and helped create the Union Pacific Railroad, which subsequently joined with the Central Pacific at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869, and signaled the linking of the continent.

In obvious disregard to long-standing Native American settlement, railroad workers' wages were to be paid in land, thus ensuring that there would be settlers along the route to supply produce to and become patrons of the completed linkage. 

Shortly thereafter (starting in 1881) many other transcontinental railroads were built (the Southern Pacific Railroad , the Northern Pacific Railway, the Great Northern Railway, the precursor to the Santa Fe Railroad, etc.). These transcontinental railroads facilitated the colonization of western territories by encouraging new settlements on Indigenous lands.  In the process, Native Americans were decimated and the vast herds of buffalo were nearly exterminated.

"The Oxford English Dictionary defines colonialism as “colonization by settlement.” In the case of the U.S., Canada, and other settler colonies, colonialism was a process that replaced existing, Indigenous communities and ways of relating to the land with settler populations, and settler ways of life." The impact of the Transcontinental Railroad on Native Americans

1885

(by Rich Coffey from the album Nature Suite)

Sunday, November 1, 2020

NYC - Antique Maps

 Interest zoomable/pannable antique maps of New York City

Original 1859 Topography of Manhattan Island

This map, compiled from old Surveys and records, was intended to exhibit the general localities of the original drainage streams, without defining the precise points at which they would intersect the Streets and Avenues in 1859.
Author: Viele, Egbert L. - Date: 1859   View Interactive map at David Rumsey.com >

NYC - Battery to 80th St. -1859


Topographical Map of the City of New York 1865

The map shows all the original water courses of Manhattan Island, with the street grid superimposed on top. Three different kinds of land are shown: Marsh, Made Land, and Meadow.
Author: Viele, Egbert L. - Date: 1865.  View Interactive map at David Rumsey.com >

NYC Topo 1865

An aerial illustrated view of New York City 1931

1931 illustrated map  showing city blocks, streets, roads, railways, landmarks, buildings, parks, etc. Includes note on Rapid Transit facilities. Copyright Herald Square Hotel. 
Author: Herald Square Hotel Date: 1931 View Interactive map at David Rumsey.com >

NYC Aerial View - 1931

Friday, October 30, 2020

Native Lands (interactive map)

This is a fascinating Map

"View an online map that wipes away borders imposed by colonial powers to reveal a complex, colorful overlap of Indigenous territories, languages and treaties. Launched in 2015, the map draws on data from historic research, maps by Indigenous people, and ongoing input from people all over the world. Visitors can search for the roots of their own homelands and witness a view of the world that is almost never reflected on contemporary maps."

Native Lands - Interactive Map >

Note - it seems to not work with Chrome (try Firefox instead)


MapLab: Bearing Witness to Native Land

Related Article >

Friday, October 23, 2020

Native Americans - New Hampshire

Part 9 of an ongoing series on the history of Native American Territory as told through maps. This series is tagged as "Native American Map Series". It is recommended to visit all the Further Info links listed below for further study.

Native Americans - New Hampshire

For roughly 12,000 years, Indigenous peoples have lived where we now call "New Hampshire." The Abenaki tribe (together with the Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Mi'kmaq, and Penobscot Indians), were members of the old Wabanaki Confederacy, adversaries of the Iroquois. These allies from the eastern seaboard spoke related languages, and Abenaki and Wabanaki have the same Algonquian root, meaning "people from the east."

The original inhabitants of the area that is now New Hampshire:

Source

There were three important subdivisions of the Abenaki tribe: the Sokoki (or Sokokis), the Cowasuck (Cowass or Coos), and the Missisquoi (or Mazipskwik.) 

Missiquoi Territory within the Larger Territory of the Western Abenaki Tribe

Although there is no local reservation or population center for the Native Americans, their names endure as names for modern-day cities, mountains and rivers:

  • Amonoosuc River ('manosek) – Western Abenaki for "fishing place."
  • Amoskeag Falls (namaskik) – Western Abenaki for "at the fish land."
  • Contoocook River (nikn tekw ok) – Abenaki for "to or from the head or first branch of the river."
  • Grand Monadnock (minoria denak) – Abenaki for "the bare or smooth mountain."
  • Kearsarge (g'wizawajo) – Western Abenaki for "rough mountain."
  • Massabesic Lake (massa nbes ek) – Abenaki for "to the great pond."
  • Merrimack River – Abenaki for "deep water or river."
  • Mount Pisgah – Abenaki for "dark."
  • Nashua– Abenaki for "two."
  • Sunapee Lake – Abenaki for "rock or mountain water."
  • Suncook River – Abenaki for "to the rocks."
  • Umbagog Lake  – Abenaki for "to the clear water lake."
Today
There are no federally recognized Indian tribes in New Hampshire today. Most Native Americans were forced to leave New Hampshire during the 1600's, when eastern tribes were being displaced by colonial expansion. The descendants of Indigenous populations who historically resided in New Hampshire can be found in several surrounding U.S. states and parts of Canada. 

Native Americans - Rhode Island

Part 8 of an ongoing series on the history of Native American Territory as told through maps. This series is tagged as "Native American Map Series". It is recommended to visit all the Further Info links listed below for further study.

Native Americans - Rhode Island

The lands of Rhode Island in the 1600s were mainly inhabited by three Native American tribes. To the east of the Narragansett Bay and the Providence River were the Wampanoags. On the south coast were the Eastern Niantics. The majority of Rhode Island was occupied by the Narragansetts.

The Narragansetts, in 1600, numbered around 4,000. Roger Williams settled among them and, through their favor, was able to found what became the Rhode Island colony in Providence. Although the colonists had peaceful relations with the Narragansetts, by 1675, the number of colonists had grown, pushing the Native Americans to the West. Indian land was seized at fwrfare erupted. Outnumbered and subsequently defeated, the power of the Native American tribes of southern New England was destroyed.

Many male Native American survivors were sold into slavery in the West Indies, while women and children were enslaved in New England. Remaining Narragansetts left the area and now the remainder of the tribe is living near Charlestown. Today, the Narragansetts are the only federally recognized Native American tribe in Rhode Island. Sourced from Native Americans shaped Rhode Island’s history

The original inhabitants of the area that is now Rhode Island: 

Source
Source

Today

The Naragansetts lost control of much of their tribal lands during the  late 19th century but they kept a group identity. The tribe incorporated in 1900 and they regained 1,800 acres of their land in 1978, finally gaining federal recognition as a tribe in 1983. According to tribal rolls, there are approximately 2,400 members of the Narragansett Tribe today. Google Map of Reservation

Native Americans - Massachusetts

Part 7 of an ongoing series on the history of Native American Territory as told through maps. This series is tagged as "Native American Map Series". It is recommended to visit all the Further Info links listed below for further study.

Native Americans - Massachusetts

Did you know the name "Massachusetts" is an Algonquian Indian word? It means "by the range of hills."

Early Contacts with Europeans
Prior to the well known Pilgrim arrival in 1620, the indigenous population had  numerous contacts with European explores along the coast. Starting in 1602, trading  with the Wampanoag and camps on Cape Cod were established.In 1605, French explorers led by Samuel de Champlain explored the Massachusetts coast. In 1605, French explorers led by Samuel de Champlain explored the Massachusetts coast and marveled at the abundant crops of corn, beans, squash, tobacco being cultivated by the Natives.

Disease
Between 1616 and 1619, it is estimated that at least three fourths of the Indian population in Massachusetts died from European epidemic diseases. Some authorities estimate the death toll at 90%.

The Pilgrims
When the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, they encountered few living people but saw evidence of many Indian graves.

Tribal Areas
The original inhabitants of the area that is now Massachusetts:

Source
Source


Statistics on the Catastrophic Population Decline
When the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, they found that much of the former Wampanoag towns had been decimated by a plague that spread through the population in 1617 and 1618.  Entire village had been wiped off the map. 
Source

Thanksgiving

Native American Territory - Maine

Part 6 of an ongoing series on the history of Native American Territory as told through maps. This series is tagged as "Native American Map Series". It is recommended to visit all the Further Info links listed below for further study.

Maine

The four Maine Indian tribes are the Maliseet, Micmac, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy, known collectively as the Wabanaki,

History

"Europeans first arrived in the Gulf of Maine in a series of exploratory voyages lasting roughly from 1524 to 1613. During this century of exploration, three themes emerged with lasting significance for the history of Maine.
  • First, in almost every instance, initial relations between English and Indian deteriorated quickly from friendship to suspicion and hostility, suggesting a deep flaw in English diplomatic approaches.
  • Second, these early voyages projected a false and ultimately dangerous impression of Maine as a New-World paradise where little work would yield great wealth.
  • Third, they laid the basis for overlapping French and English claims to the Wabanaki homeland that precipitated a three-way struggle for supremacy or survival that lasted for another century. These themes – diplomatic failure, false expectations, and imperial claims – explain much about Maine's marginal status as a proprietary colony and later as a province of Massachusetts." Source 

"Plagues that swept through the Indian villages beginning in 1616, killing more than 75 percent of the inhabitants and leaving the rest weakened culturally, spiritually, economically, and militarily. By the middle of the 17th century the Abenaki were living in a nightmarish landscape shaped by conflict, disease, and alcohol, and they turned to the missionaries for help and reassurance."

Summary

Between the late 17th century and the early 19th century, Great Britain, France, and others in Europe engaged in nearly constant warfare. The battles for economic and political power spilled into North America, catching the native populations in the middle. By the time a lasting peace came between France and Britain, European descendants had permanent settlements in North America and the native populations were relegated to the fringes. Source 

Today

Source

Native American Territory - Vermont

Part 5 of an ongoing series on the history of Native American Territory as told through maps. This series is tagged as "Native American Map Series". It is recommended to visit all the Further info links listed below for further study.

Vermont

The original inhabitants of the area that is now Vermont:
Source
Source
About the Abenaki
The Abenaki (also spelled Abnaki or Wabanaki) were an Algonquian-speaking North American Indian tribe that united with other tribes in the 17th century to furnish mutual protection against the Iroquois Confederacy. The name refers to their location “toward the dawn.” In its earliest known form, the Abenaki Confederacy consisted of tribes or bands living east and northeast of present-day New York state, and later the confederacy included some tribes as far south as present-day Delaware. Source

There were three important subdivisions of the Abenaki tribe: the Sokoki (or Sokokis), the Cowasuck (Cowass or Coos), and the Missisquoi (or Mazipskwik.) 

Missiquoi Territory within the Larger Territory of the Western Abenaki Tribe

Today

There are no federally recognized Indian tribes in Vermont today. Most tribes that once were native to Vermont ended up on reservations in Canada. 

Update: 
The Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation is nestled in N’dakinna (our homeland), the present-day Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The tribal headquarters are located in Barton, Vermont.

Native American Territory - Connecticut

Part 4 of an ongoing series on the history of Native American Territory as told through maps. This series is tagged as "Native American Map Series". It is recommended to visit all the Further Info links listed below for further study.

Connecticut

As this Wikipedia page illustrates, there are quite a few places in Connecticut that have names of Native American origin:

  • Natick - Place of Hills
  • Housatonic - translated as "beyond the mountains"
  • Niantic River and Niantic village – For the Niantic tribe, called the Nehântick or Quinnipiac River – "long water land".
  • Hammonasset - “where we dig holes in the ground,” a reference to the tribe's agricultural way of life.
  • Aspetuck - "at the high place"
  • Naugatuck - "single tree
  • Shepaug - "great pond"
The various tribes that occupied Connecticut when the Europeans arrive spoke related Algonquian languages.
Iroquois | Algonquian
Map of Connecticut, circa 1625
Indian trails, villages, sachemdoms >
Wikipedia
Sadly due to smallpox and brutal wars and massacres by the white settlers, little remained of Native American population by the 1700s.

Today

Connecticut - American Indian Reservations >
Casinos and Museums
Today one of the most successful Indian Casinos in the country is Foxwoods. The Pequot tribe earnings from this business has enabled them to build a true state of the art museum nearby. A neighboring tribe, the Mohegans, soon followed with their own casino.

Native Americans - New England

Part 3 of an ongoing series on the history of Native American Territory as told through maps. This series is tagged as "Native American Map Series". It is recommended to visit all the Further info links listed below for further study.

Native Americans - New England

The indigenous tribes of the Northeast region of North America were among the first to have extended contact with European colonizers. Though members of numerous and separate tribes, the native people generally fell under the umbrella category of two main groups: Iroquoian and Algonquian. 

Source

Algonquian-speaking tribes lived primarily along the coast in socially and economically stable villages suited to fishing and farming. They were the larger of the two groups. Iroquoian-speaking tribes lived inland in smaller hamlets, near rivers and lakes, and relied on wild food. They tended to be warlike. 

Within both groups, a tribe consisted of several villages or hamlets joined in an alliance, called a confederacy. However, the stabilizing influence of these alliances provided no guarantee of peace among the tribes. Tribes within the Iroquois Confederacy would often raid others outside the protection of their alliance.

Native American settlements and trails in southern New England in the early 1600s
Source

Conflict

The arrival of Europeans and the subsequent spread of their colonies forced changes to the Native American ways of life and intensified the conflict between Iroquoian- and Algonquian-speaking groups. 

Perhaps the most troublesome of these was the concept of land ownership. To Europeans, ownership of land equated to wealth, and the New World seemed to offer unlimited possibilities to become land-rich. The native tribes, however, did not believe an individual could own land in this sense. Land could be used but not possessed, just as air might be used but not owned or kept. When Native Americans first shared the land with settlers, they did not understand that the settlers now would consider that land their property, would build fences, and would bar anyone else from using it.

All Texts Sourced From U.S. History/Northeast: 1620–1730


State-by-State Details

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Native American Conquest (Video Overviews)

Part 2 of an ongoing series on the history of Native American Territory as told through maps. This series is tagged as "Native American Map Series".

The two videos below do a great job of visually capturing the historical saga of Native American conquest and land loss.

European Conquest of the Americas

This is brilliant!  It should be a must read for all Americans!

This Land is My Land? 

The Legacy of Early Interactions Between Native Americans and Colonists

The British – who would later become the first “American citizens” – viewed the indigenous people as subordinate and uncivilized due to their nomadic lifestyles and “underutilization” of the land. Over a period of 300 years, from 1609 to 1900, Native American tribes went from inhabiting the entire land area, to living on specifically defined “native reservations.” Long before the founding of the United States, countless acres were taken through illegal treaties, trickery, and bloodshed.

These preliminary encounters between Native Americans and colonists laid the foundation for a tradition of land grabbing that repeated itself through the Revolutionary War of 1776, and especially later through policies of the United States federal government. Lest we forget: In the Americas, modern society was built on conquest, subordination murder and land-grabbing.


Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Indian (Native American) Territory

Western United States (Native American) Lands

This is the first introductory post of a upcoming series on the history of Native American Territory as told through maps. Forthcoming posts will be focused on a state-by-state basis whenever possible.  This series will be tagged as "Native American Map Series".

Note: All the David Ramsey Map Collection links will take you to an zoomable detailed version - it is highly recommended to use all these links provided for further study.

Northwest 1845 
David Ramsey Map Collection
US Population 1870
David Ramsey Map Collection
Southwest Tribal Lands
United States EPA
Southwest Indian
History, Tribes, Culture, & Facts
Britannica