December 28 - “They're Always Changing the Map!” Day

Posted on December 28, 2021

Key Points

This is an update of my post published on December 28, 2010:

Geography is the study of the earth’s features, including land and oceans and human-created features.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, most of the land on Earth
was smushed together into one large continent, called
Pangea.

The earth is always changing. Over the course of the billions of years of its existence, the continents and oceans have changed positions and shapes as tectonic plates slowly moved around, pulled apart, and slammed into each other. Mountains have been pushed up and worn down, islands have risen and sunk, land bridges have connected and later disappeared—earth’s an active world, and things are always changing.

But by and large, these natural features change reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllly slowly.

One reason that maps changed, way back when, is because
explorers slowly discovered more about the landforms and were
able to chart and map those landforms more accurately.

Of course, we modern folks have the benefit of a view of
Earth from space!

Human features such as roads, cities, and nations are much quicker to change. In historical times (mere thousands of years), people have migrated from one area to another, settled cities and abandoned others, sworn allegiance to a particular ruler or rebelled against another, declared independence, taken over neighboring countries, or united to make a larger, stronger nation.

Today is the anniversary of two events that required changes in maps:

On this day in 1836, the city of Adelaide was founded in South Australia.

And on this day ten years later, in 1846, the state of Iowa joined the United States of America, becoming its 29^th state.

When Iowa became the 29th state, the United States
was quite a bit smaller than it is now, and much
of it was considered “territory” rather than “states.”

More on changing maps…

Compare these maps of Africa – one from 1950, and the other modern. What countries have stayed about the same size and name? What changes have there been?

Above, Africa in 1950.
Below, Africa in modern times – although
some nation names have changed since
this map was drawn!

For example, Swaziland is now Eswatini…

A map showing the physical (natural) features of Africa
doesn’t have to be redrawn so often!

Here is a video that shows a map of Central America, highlighting how national borders and names changed from 1800 to just a few years ago.

More on Adelaide…

South Australia was settled as a new British province with the founding of Adelaide. The Surveyor-General of the new province, Colonel William Light, planned the site and basic layout of the city, with wide streets oriented in north-south or east-west directions and park lands surrounding the city center like a green belt. Because of his plan, the city did not have to undergo modification as it grew and as technology advanced, as most old cities do.

More on Iowa…

This state got its name for one of the many groups of Native Americans that lived there, the Ioway, a name that was also given to one of the rivers that flows through that area.

Actually, the tribal name was “Ayuxwa,” which means “one who puts to sleep.” The French spelled the name “Ayoua,” and the English spelled it “Ioway.”

The state’s nickname is the Hawkeye State. Apparently this is to honor the memory of Black Hawk, a leader of the Sauk Native Americans.

It is very interesting to me that Black Hawk has the stature of a hero among white Americans of his own time: statues of him were on display, roads and schools and other features were named after him, and a biography describing his life became a best-seller while he was still alive. It’s interesting because he could have been seen as an enemy of the U.S. Black Hawk led Sauk warriors against the United States, alongside the British and many other groups of Native Americans, during the War of 1812, and he fought against the U.S. again in the Black Hawk War of 1832. After Black Hawk and his warriors were defeated, he was taken into custody and sent around the U.S. with other Native leaders. Although they were prisoners, these leaders were met with huge crowds of mostly positive onlookers. They were painted by portrait artists and interviewed for biographies.

However, positive attention is not all that great when it the background context is broken treaties; theft of land, children, and culture; and genocide (the killing off of an entire group of people).

Also, when the Native leaders were sent to locations where Black Hawk had actually fought, he got a much less positive reception—crowds there were more likely to jeer and burn or hang effigies than to cheer.

Like other places, Iowa has its share of natural beauty: