BBC series on maps
I'm really loving the BBC series on maps... (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s5m7w_ ) I've always been overly-interested in maps, poring over medieval maps which document the Christian known world and the strange, beast-ridden lands further afield, to Google Earth which in one click allows me to see my front door, or search the jungle ruins of Angkor Wat just before I visit them, from my iphone! Maps have helped us make sense of the world, and communicate the world view of the humans who made them; they've been tools for propaganda, showing the way to Heaven, exerting control; navigation, understanding how to deal with poverty, disease, populations... and so fascinating to see what the maps of different societies, over thousands of years, reveal about the political and cultural forces that created them.
Here are some important maps everyone should know about.
Here's Tupaia's navigation map from the British Library. He's always been thought of as a mere interpreter on Captain Cook's expedition, but in fact his role was crucial and they would have probably been killed and eaten without him - Polynesians saw him as the expedition leader.

