Many maps, in my view, are also work of art, regardless of their creators’ intentions. Some maps, however, are explicitly made as art, and as such are not designed to convey spatial information beyond that found in the mere geographical shapes that they contain. Increasingly, it can be difficult to tell whether a given map […] The post Map Art or Scientific Cartography? appeared first on GeoCurrents.

Tectonic plates are the basic building blocks of the Earth’s lithosphere, its outermost rocky layer. As these large segments of crust slowly move, landmasses and sea expanses are gradually rearranged. The current configuration of tectonic plates shows a tight connection with the architecture of continents: North America is on the North American plate; South America […] The post Are Continents Rooted in Plate Tectonics? appeared first on GeoCurrents.

As it has been 28 years since the publication of The Myth of Continents, a book that I jointly wrote with my wife, Karen Wigen, it is time for a reconsideration of the work. The main thesis of the book is that although most continents are rooted in physical geography, the larger continental system of […] The post Revisiting The Myth of Continents appeared first on GeoCurrents.

The final two video lectures on global demography have been posted on the GeoCurrents YouTube channel. They can be found here and here. I would like to end this exploration of global demography by posting two paired maps, which show the global Total Fertility Rates (TFR) in 1950 and 2023. The contrasts are interesting and […] The post Lecture Series on Global Demography Concluded appeared first on GeoCurrents.