BackStory

The following are individual show segments included in the BackStory episode “Here to There: A History of Mapping,” broadcast in August of 2012. You can listen to the entire episode here.

Party Lines

Brian tells the story of how the Red State/Blue State electoral map became such a ubiquitous feature of election seasons. The History Guys talk about other geographical boundaries that have divided the country along social lines.

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A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

Peter looks at the famous Francis Bicknell Carpenter painting, “First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln,” and reveals the story behind the map featured in the lower right-hand corner.

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Fifty Shades of Grey

Ed chats with historian Susan Schulten about the map that used U.S. Census data to illustrate the distribution of slave populations prior to the Civil War.

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The Measure of a Man

Historian Max Edelson talks with Ed about a map made by the Catawba Indians that measures space according to human relationships, not physical distance.

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Wars and Pieces

Brian and geographer Wesley Reisser take a look at the maps the U.S. brought to the Paris Peace Conference after WWI in hopes that by redrawing the borders of Europe that they could create an everlasting peace.

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Oh, the Water

With the help of historian Donald Worster, BackStory producer Allison Quantz examines an 1890 map of the American West that divided up space according to watersheds. The History Guys riff about the different ways in which people have proposed dividing up the land.

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What’s in a Name?

Peter interviews scholar Felipe Fernandez-Armesto about why America is called America and not, for example, Columbia. The answer? A mapmaker with his eye on fame.

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