SUNDAY SCREENING: Maps: Power, Plunder & Possession (2010)

Our weekly documentary film, curated by the editorial team at 21WIRE.

Arctic maps and others are crucial tools that support legal, political, commercial, and scientific interests in the region. For example, polar projections of sea ice, natural resources, and ocean currents are essential for understanding the Arctic’s future. The scientific terms used to describe the Arctic are influenced by historical developments in geographical knowledge and are not absolute. As fields like oceanography, meteorology, and hydrology emerged in the nineteenth century, new theoretical and visual languages equipped explorers and cartographers with the terminology to link the Arctic’s geography to the geopolitical and commercial goals of European and North American states.

This documentary is based on historical data and archival research and takes you on a journey with Professor Jerry Brotton, who uncovers how maps are snapshots of a moment in history and offer visions of distant lands, tempting explorers to plunder and conquer. However, adventurers first had to tackle the great challenge of mapping the globe onto a flat surface. There is no perfect solution, but the father of geography, Claudius Ptolemy, had some clever ideas. Explorers like Christopher Columbus sailed into the unknown in search of riches and discovered a whole new continent that would become the most powerful on earth. At the same time, Amerigo Vespucci gave it his name. Today, a project to map the North Pole is the flashpoint for the so-called ‘Cold Rush’ – the dash to exploit oil, gas and mineral reserves as the Arctic ice melts. Watch: