The Role of Cartography In Politics

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The Role of Cartography In Politics
According to Cambridge dictionary, map is defined as a drawing of the surface of the earth or part of the surface that shows the shape and positions of different countries, political boundaries, artificial and natural features. Cartography is the art and science of creation of maps to show spatial concepts on different scales. The early maps were shown using cave walls and clay tablets, and with the advancement in technology, the modern digital maps are created using geographical information systems technology with aid of computers. The early maps were imagination of space rather than the realistic records of geography. The Babylon World Map, produced in 600BC, is considered the world's first map (Harley 197). It has shown a symbolic image of the planet. The first map was etched in ancient cave paintings and rock cravings depicting landscape features such as hills and mountains. Archeologists claimed that the art was used to navigate the locations, they displayed and represented the people who visited those sites. However, as later could emerge, maps became essential tools not only in indicating territories and boundaries but also in the advancements of the political and economic interests of the colonialists.
Use of Maps in Intellectual, Economic and Political Projects Of Colonialism
Mapping is crucial in nation building, the colonial projection of influence, and the conquest of distant imperial lands. This was possible because of the peculiar features of the maps, to project a cohesive representation of territorial continuity and the unification of citizens for a common cause. Recent research has shown that power is captured and transmitted through maps to claim command, monitor territory and socio-spatial relations (Anderson). Mapping practices have been used to resist and question the exercise of power over space. Maps have been critical tools in the development of national identities and nation building (Vujakovic 197). For example, modern continental maps are subdivided into blocks and are used as economic blocks for commercial companies.
Cartographic maps are classified into political authorities, which are strong assertions of state authority. The symbolic power of cartography enables borders to be manipulated in regional geopolitics between states where maps provide a master image of national dominance and centrality in global affairs (198). Cartography has become an important part of colonial practice by supplying colonizers with both spatial rationale and rationalization methods. For example, the study of maps by the European analytical forces at the end of the nineteenth century demonstrates how successfully they promoted the appropriation of African space under the rhetoric of trade and civilization (Bassett 333). Maps may also be used as a powerful tool fo...