Is this a map, a landscape painting or a beautiful piece of propaganda? This panoramic map was produced at the beginning of the 1900’s in London by W. H. Payne for Letts, Son & Co., a British stationary and map seller. The perspective is from a hilltop in British India, now Pakistan, overlooking Afghanistan. Two British soldiers in the foreground are looking out over Kandahar and other lands yet to conquer. In the far distance, along the Amu Darya (once known as Oxus River) lies the boundary of Russian territory. The Great Game was an 18th Century rivalry between the British and Russian Empires. This map was produced in that milieu with both sides vying for control over central Asia. The British aimed to create a protectorate in Afghanistan to prevent Russia from having access to the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Sea. Eventually borders were agreed upon but not entirely as seen below. The line along the western frontier is boundary of Persia, now Iran. The dominant mountain in the far distance looks a bit fanciful but may be inspired some of the peaks around Azhdar National Park. After failing to conquer these lands the British eventually settled for Afghanistan as an independent buffer state between the empires.

The United States Disappeared Tracker is a new Tableau visualization from Danielle Harlow. It shows where people have been taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This map is part of a dashboard that “visualizes person brought into ICE custody when the trump Administration has demonstrated undeniable political motive/animus and/or the person has been denied appropriate due process, even if the charges are eventually substantiated in a court of law.“  Being a dashboard, there are also charts and lists of the disappeared.  You can also hover over the map for details on some of the incidents.  The data sources are not clear but 370 people just in Massachusetts? The author is also working on an ICE Flights Tracker.

Semiquincentennial is a word we will be hearing quite a bit over the next few years as the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary. The Revolutionary War’s 250th anniversary will be marked on April 19th of this year. On that day in 1775 British forces exchanged gunfire with local militia in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts while attempting to seize munitions stored by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, an alternate government set up by colonist outside of Boston. These skirmishes became full scale battles forcing the British to evacuate back to Boston. This map is literally close to home for me as I live along the route. -via US Army The map above is from the US Army which will also celebrate its semiquincentennial this year. The route through Lexington and Concord, known as the Battle Road is where thousands of Colonial and British troops fought a bloody battle on that day. This area is now known as Minute Man National Historic Park. The park’s web site provides a nice interactive map where you can click around the various historic sites within. To see the upcoming commemorations and related events visit Revolution 250 online.

I was not aware of Karen Wynn Fonstad until a recent article from the New York Times “Overlooked” series. Overlooked are obituaries about people whose deaths (in this case in 2005) were unreported in the Times. Fonstad created the Atlas of Middle Earth to accompany the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. -via New York Times She had become enchanted with Tolkien’s works. Having studied cartography and completed a Master’s degree in Geography, she pitched the idea of creating an atlas to Tolkien’s American publisher. While Tolkien and his son drew the original maps* Fonstad’s atlas represents a complete picture of Middle Earth during all of its ages and across all of Tolkien’s books. It discusses the geology behind land formations and includes city maps and floor plans or important buildings. Here is a detail of Frodo and Sam’s route to Mount Doom. -via Wikipedia  Her work was well received by Tolkien fans and scholars alike. To illustrate her impressive landscape details, here is the southern section of the Misty Mountains. They have a nice Swiss Topo look. -from the American Geographical Society *also note the illustrations of Pauline Baynes