Yesterday I posted a link to data showing the rapid westward expansion of people settling the United States as demonstrated by the rise of farming. Pretty dull stuff if you’re not into statistics you might think!
Well 24 hours later and I stumble across the UNESCO World Digital Library which has a fantastic collection of documents and maps. Some very pretty ancient maps too:
I’ve loved looking at maps since childhood and would highly recommend Katherine Harmon’s book You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination
if you share this interest.
So browsing this online treasure trove I come across some superb examples showing how long people have been fascinated with exploring and colonising the American continent way before the days of the Wild West.
I’ve listed just a few in chonological order below that are all connected by this spirit of adventure and probably also a fear of the unknown:
- A Modern and Quite Precise Depiction of America (or the Fourth Part of the World) Dated 1562 and annotated in Latin it shows the first mention of California and also indicates just how much land there is to explore - anything above the southern seaboard states is marked “ulterivs hec terra incognita permansit” which according to an online translation site is ‘farther this earth unknown to stay to the end’. Very Lost!
- Map of California Shown as an Island 100 years later and Spanish explorers have still not determined if California is connected to the North American mainland. Perhaps if the ever-expected superquake does occur the state may well end up disconnected from the rest of the west coast.
- History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the river Columbia to the Pacific Ocean An American classic - over 2 years of exploration to discover land and people previously unknown. Now you can read the original online.
- Emigrant’s Map and Guide for Routes to North America 50 years later and it doesn’t take a Corps of Discovery to adventure across the US. All you need is a handy map showing how and where to start your journey. But 300 years on from the first map and the inner reaches of the American continent are now marked as ‘Indian Territorium’ - Indian Territory.
I look forward to future additions to the collection.
Thanks to Gapminder data you can now watch the real-time settlement of the US from the era of the founding fathers in Virginia through to the western states in the 18th century and beyond.
Visit the link for the data on ‘US farm land (acreage per person)’ and then hit the play button bottom left of the Flash style interface.
The chart will then whiz you from 1610 through to the present day with colourful dots appearing as and when records of farms began to be stored I’m guessing.
A great way to visualize the settlement of the US as westward expansion took hold:
I’ve been a little quiet the last two weeks being fully occupied with a new business venture. After 7 years of hard work and research I can now reveal the source of this distraction: www.cowboycountry.co.uk:
Cowboy Country is a unique wild west themed gift for line dancing fans, country and western music lovers, western movie buffs or anyone with an interest in the USA.
Visit the website now and you can buy your own piece of America, quickly, easily and - most importantly- legally.
How does it work?
Well back in the year 2000 I bought some land north east of the city of Holbrook, Arizona. Read the rest of this entry »
Is there room for two cattle-related technology stories in one month? Well, if you found the GPS-based logic behind the Ear-A-Round intriguing then take a look at the BBC News story on the surprising news that herds of grazing animals all face the same way.
I always knew Google Earth had a purpose beyond checking out what your house looks like from above. The only shame is researchers now have less of a reason to leave the office and get out into the wild just as office workers are using video conferencing instead of enjoying overseas trips.
A casual interest in all things GPS-related led me to stumble across a great story on CNN about “Old West cattle herding with a 21st century twist”. Boffins from the USDA and MIT have combined to create the Ear-A-Round:
The wireless headset… has stereo earphones that transmit sounds directly into the cow’s ears to guide its movement. Powered by a small solar energy panel, the unit contains a GPS device to monitor a cow’s location and movement… Researchers hope the device will give ranchers and farmers the ability to herd cattle from afar
Now, while this may sound comical - lazy ranchers directing their cows from the comfort of air conditioned offices like air traffic controllers watching dots dancing on green screens - and a possible threat to the future of old-fashioned cowboys, the story has one real nugget: “Another potential benefit would be eye-friendly vistas that have no fences.”
My knowledge of the end of the Old West era centres on the fencing in of the prairies, the widespread adoption of barbed wire - ‘The Devil’s Rope’ - and the bloody period known as ‘The Fence Cutter Wars‘. Inventors like Joseph Glidden made a fortune, the invention changed cattle country beyond recognition and radically reduced the need for armies of line-riders.
Barbed wire fences are such a part of Western history there’s even a museum dedicated to the preservation of antique barbs in McLean, Texas.
Imagine then if technology conquers the need for fences and the west returns to a wide open space, unhindered by man-made barriers? ‘Virtual paddocks’ replace ranch fencing and the Open Range is open again.
I had to buy a copy of Andy Riley’s book of cartoons after stumbling across his take on the truth behind the Wild West:
I love the limited set of characters squeezed into a ‘Wild West’ only 80 square feet in size! Could you re-enact most western movies with that lot? The saloon certainly looks like it’d be a squeeze.
