History of the epidemic spasmodic cholera of Russia
This map shows how the cholera epidemic spread across the world from 1817-1831. The only cities labeled on the map are places at which cholera was recorded during the epidemic, clearly showing the impressive geographical range the epidemic reached. This map is particularly interesting because it aims to depict change over time, by including the date at which cholera was first recorded at that specific place on most of the labels. It is not initially very easy to determine where the epidemic originated and the path it took because there is no guide other than the dates, so you have to read all the labels to get a sense of the narrative that the map is telling – it is not very visually obvious. Assessing the path of transmission of a disease is key in identifying the mechanism by which it is spread, and this map is an excellent example of an attempt to better understand cholera, laying the pathway for the discovery of waterborne transmission in the next 20-30 years.
Francis Bisset Hawkins
Book: "History of the epidemic spasmodic cholera of Russia :including a copious account of the disease which has prevailed in India, and which has travelled, under that name,
from Asia into Europe, illustrated by numerous official and other documents, explanatory of the nature, treatment, and prevention of the malady"
J. Murray (London)
1831
World
Book figure
https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:7142160$7i
Open Collections Program at Harvard University
1817-1831
World Map of the Major Tropical Diseases
This map, produced in 1944, shows major “tropical diseases” and where they occur in the world. A stylized image of the vector or symptoms of the disease is drawn over each afflicted region. Along the bottom of the map is a key describing which image refers to which disease, with a short block of text giving more background about each disease below the corresponding image. Interestingly, malaria is the only disease not identified by an image, and instead malarial zones are just colored pink. The map overall creates an almost gruesome image in which the world is covered in insects, pests, and deformed humans. It is a very unconventional way of depicting disease since the area that each image marks and the ranges of diseases are very vague. It would not be very useful for an epidemiologist, but is a striking way of conveying to the viewer the number of diseases that afflict the world and to what extent we possess the ability to treat them. The decision to depict malaria so differently raises an interesting question about perception of that disease in particular.
Boris Artzybasheff
Life Magazine
Time, Inc. (New York)
1944
36 x 53 cm (sheet)
World
Individual sheet map, included with a magazine
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~290431~90061990:World-Map-of-the-Major-Tropical-Dis?sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date&qvq=q:disease;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=21&trs=22
David Rumsey Map Collection