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
Original map of the Transvaal or South-African Republic
This map is entitled the “Original map of the Transvaal or South-African Republic” and was published in 1875. It was the first comprehensive and accurate map of the Transvaal and was published just before the outbreak of the First Boer War. The map shows the geography of the area, and highlights (quite literally, through the use of color) the political boundaries between Portuguese dominions, British dominions, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The feature of the map that makes it most interesting to my project, however, is the inclusion of a green line that marks the “boundary of the Tsetse fly.” The tsetse fly causes sleeping sickness, one of the diseases that posed such difficulties to the European colonial endeavor. Until you read the label, it looks like the green line marks another territorial boundary between nations; instead it gives the territory of the fly as much visual importance as that of, say, Britain. Insofar as presence of the tsetse fly and therefore increased disease transmission prevented colonial expansion, then perhaps the green line does mark a political boundary: the regions to which European colonizers could not expand. It is also an interesting way of visualizing disease, since no disease is explicitly mentioned on the map, instead it is the habitat of the vector that is noted, with the implication that everyone knew what the tsetse fly was and its effect. Disease is referenced vaguely in other labels on the map, such as “unhealthy flats”, but this is not even given a exact marker or reference to the type of disease in that area.
Alexander Merensky
Alexander Merensky (Berlin)
1875
J. Sulzer
46 x 46 cm
Country/region (1:1,800,000)
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