THINKING
Lately I've been thinking (and writing a bit) about the idea of comparative geography in educational settings. A lot of this has been for an article that should be out soon on James Monteith, who I am going to argue is the "master of the margins" for helping map users compare the information on a map to distant regions. But I also came across this wonderful illustration from Colton's 1855 atlas, with comparative size of lakes and islands (example available here from David Rumsey collection). It got me thinking not only about how it is yet another of those effective techniques no longer in use, but how a modern update is called for. After all, Colton's map preceded the "discovery" (or accurate European mapping) of Africa's Great Lakes at the headwaters of the White Nile and some of the world's largest lakes do not appear on his proto-infographic.