Geopolitics: How Maps Help Us Understand History, Predict the Future, and Go Beyond Politics

“It is not often that nations learn from the past, even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it.” – Henry Kissinger

American students are notoriously bad at geography, and have been for some time. In 2002, for instance – the year after the 9/11 attacks – only 17% of American students could find Afghanistan on a map. In 2016, less than one third were able to score a minimal pass of 66% on the National Geographic Global Literacy Survey. In 2015, the United States Government Accountability Office reported that 75% of eighth grade students don’t even know what geography is.

I've been studying mapping in the Canadian prairie provinces as part of my genealogical research. The mapping of the prairie provinces is fascinating.

Yesterday I learned about the first detailed mapping effort which produced the "3-Mile to One Inch Sectional Maps":

THE 3-MILE TO ONE INCH SECTIONAL MAPS OF THE CANADIAN PRAIRIES

The article explains why there are zig-zag province border lines in the longitudinal direction.

I found this cool site called the Legal Land Converter which accepts Section, Township, Range, and Meridian inputs, then outputs latitude and longitude together with links to Google Maps and other maps. I've been able to enter the data for my ancestors' homesteads and immediately get map views and satellite views.

Fascinating stuff, especially when you look at the land and think about my sodbuster ancestors working and improving the land. That was probably the hardest job in the world at the time.

Here's one map of my gr-grandfather's quarter-section homestead in Saskatchewan. His dad later farmed the quarter-section immediately to the west.

The kids just don't know what they are missing!

You never know what you are going to find. I had no idea that both of my Mom’s grandparents were homesteaders in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota. I’ve always wondered about where her family came from. One side of the family came from England and one side from Germany. My dad’s family is all from Germany. Interestingly, the two families lived less than 200 miles from each other in Germany.

I’ve done the DNA tests and they really haven’t told me anything useful. One woman in England did reach out to me and we had a fun email conversation going on for quite a while. We share a common ancestor in England and are both doing genealogical research.

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