User:LGreg/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge (LG seminar 2020/21)/Seminar 18/Truth/Truth in geography

Definition of geography

Ethymology : from Greek, “geo” means the world and “graphy” means “to write”. Geography’s purpose was to describe the world the Greeks lived in. Nowadays, according to National Geographic, its definition is :"The study of places and the relationships between people and their environments." With all the discoveries that have progressively been made throughout history, the perception of our world has changed. We can observe this shift through maps, which stem from cartography. Indeed, we could say that, “the truth of geography” evolves with “the truth of cartography”. But how does truth change in a discipline that should represent our world, when our world does not physically change? Who decides of those changes and why?

Evolving Truth

The oldest map that has been found was created during the 6th century BC by the Babylonians. Early civilisations like the Greeks, Romans, and Babylonians represented their territory at the center of the world. It was not accurate, some enemy populations did not appear on the map as it was rather constructed around the Babylonians' religious beliefs (which was also the case during very religious periods such as the Middle Ages). Many tried mapping out the world after this.

But during the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy was the first one to democratize the techniques that we are familiar with today : longitudinal and latitudinal lines. (This idea originates from geographer, Marino of Tyre). This gave a scientific dimension to the discipline that helped future geographers and cartographers map out the world using a global system.

The second wave of exploration, started with the discovery of the Americas in 1492, broadened europeans' perception of the world as they had only been aware of the existence of Africa and Asia up until then.

As the explorers traveled by sea, they used these methods :

• Recorded all ports, used a compass to (imprecisely) determine directions from one port to the other.

• Measured sailing times in between ports.
• Drew out sketches of coastal boarders.

Consequently, people in charge of mapping out the world (explorers, geographers, cartographers) were in control of people's Truth regarding their world. Progress in technology (satellites, GPS etc.) has allowed anybody to observe an accurate representation of the world from any technological device. (Google Earth)

Distortions of Truth

We will observe two examples, at different scales : regional and international.

• The Sea of Japan borders Japan, North and South Korea. Since 1992, at the 6th United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, there have been objections to the name that had been most commonly used since the 19th century: Sea of Japan. Indeed, North Korea wants to rename it “Korean East Sea” while South Korea “East Sea”. This doesn't change any laws about the sea itself, but the more land is in a territory's name, the more powerful it appears to foreign countries.
• The map that has been most commonly used since its creation by Mercator in 1569, has been criticized for actually distorting reality. This is the result of trying to convert a surface that is round onto a flat surface. Consequently, territories located toward the middle of the map (the equator) shrink and territories closest to the poles expand. Mercator chose to prioritize the accurate shape of the continents instead of their size. This has led to some misconceptions, which tend to benefit the wealthiest part of the world, the North; by minimising the size of (usually) less developed countries.
  • For example, Africa appears smaller than it actually is. Greenland seems to be 2 to 3 times bigger than Africa, but is in reality 14 times smaller. Likewise, countries like China, the United States and Russia are represented bigger than they actually are. Which might further emphasize their power.

These two examples show us how things that could seem unimportant because they don't affect reality directly, have a consequential impact on our perception. Indeed, Truth is relative and shifts with what is commonly considered as such. If the only way for us to know about the world were through maps (as it was before internet and the democratization of education), then these maps would become our truth. This highlights the close link between Truth and Power.