Last week I bought a new map to hang up at work. When I unrolled it, it looked different. The globe was divided in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, centering the Pacific Ocean. I honestly don’t recall seeing a printed map with this configuration in the U.S. However, I have seen it multiple times here in the Philippines. This configuration puts the Philippines in the middle of the map.
I still remember the map on wall of my third grade classroom. It divided Asia in half and centered North and South America. Interestingly this map divides the world relatively close to the geographic centers of land and population.
Probably, the most common map view divides the Pacific Ocean and centers Europe and Africa.
None of these perspectives are bad. The purpose of a map is to show us where we are in relation to the world around us. Thus centering the map on the primary users’ location makes sense. It makes me think that if the majority of people lived in the southern hemisphere our map may well look like this:
What does the map in your head look like? What is in the center, and what is on the margins? What stands out to you when you reflect on other perspectives?
