Sunday, April 19, 2009

Historical Mysteries Solved with Maps?

When I was doing my undergraduate degree, one of the courses I took was Cartography. Part of the course offered an historical look at how maps have been used to help answer questions.

The one map that stands out in my mind from this course is the John Snow Cholera map. File:Snow-cholera-map-1.jpg

When the cholera outbreak took place in Soho, London (1854), the initial belief about the spread of the disease was from pollution. John Snow spoke with residents and created a map plotting the cases of infection and proved that the source of the cholera was a contaminated water well. Until the distribution of the outbreak was mapped, the cause could not be determined. I think the reason this map stayed in my mind for so long was because is was a great example of how maps can be used to help solve mysteries.

But I digress. Yesterday, I came across an article in the Augusta Chronicle offering a new theory on the Black Plague. I don’t recall the exact image of this map from my studies but it seems likely that it graced the contents of the same cartography course.

When most people hear of the Black Death, they think of the bubonic plague which is transferred by rats and other vermin. Two professors from Georgia Southern University suggest that the Black Death was viral in nature and spread through trade routes. Now, these professors are using GIS technology to compile data and create maps to test the theory.

Professors offer new theory on infamous Black Death plague 041809 - The Augusta Chronicle

1 comment:

  1. Dear,

    please,

    I need databank, tables or matrix of the John Snow`s cholera map of 1854. Do you have? Is a academic work. If you do, send me: ronaldoraz@hotmail.com. Excuse my English

    best resgards, Ronaldo - Geograph - Brazil.

    ReplyDelete