FACTS & MAPS OF PLACES I'VE VISITED - Maps Tell Stories

I always thought that maps showed facts: what you look at is what is there. After living here, I realize that maps tell a particular story, depending on what story you want to tell. Here, Israelis and Palestinians fight over who owns the land, who should own the land, and who used to own the land, so maps are used to show your side of the story. 

Here is a world map: the yellow part is all of the Middle East, including 22 Arab countries (325m people) and Israel (7.5m people). From this map, you can see that this region is at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa; for that reason, it is an important area that many different people wanted to control over centuries.

Mostly on the news, we hear about the fight between the Arab countries and Israel like they are equals and that Israel has the best army in the area. But looking at a map shows that Israel is very outnumbered and located in a boxed-in location by the sea:

Can you even find tiny Israel on this map? It is between Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and just the size of New Jersey!

In this part of the world, some people use maps to share their ideas. For example, in the map below, the turquoise area is called "Samaria, Jerusalem, and Judea." Most modern people call this area "The West Bank" because it's the west side of the Jordan River. So it's interesting that whoever made this map calls it something else. Why? Well, Samaria and Judea are the biblical Jewish names of this area... so that's a clue. Maybe the map maker wants us to think of that land as important holy areas from the bible, especially for Jews. It's probably an ultra-Orthodox Jew who wants to show a map that the Jewish people always had a presence living in this region since bible times:

Most modern people call the turqouise area "West Bank" but not this map maker.

Now here's another map - notice the gray area called "West Bank." And what's even more interesting is that most modern people call the orange area "Israel" but this map calls it "Palestine." Why? Well, from this I think the map maker is probably Palestinian who wants to ignore that there is in modern-tmes a Jewish country called Israel. I think it's incredibly sad that 36 countries do not recognize Israel's right to exist. All of its neighbors except Egypt and Jordan do not even recognize Israel's right to be there, so this is probably one of the maps from one of thse neighbors:

Where is Israel? Imagine how you'd feel if your neighbors didn't want you there and pretended you didn't even exist!

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Not only do the names of what map makers call places tell a story. Also, what things you decide to put on the map tell a story too. For example, if you look at the key or legend on the map below, you can see it shows where Israel and Palestinian Authority offically control the land and where Israel put a fence. I was surprised to see the West Bank is almost all Palestinian Authority. For the Israel side, it shows me that the Israelis will have a hard time keeping the little white areas in the West Bank because they are surrounded by area not controlled by Israel. How will the Israeli people get from one place to another? And for the Palestinian side, it shows me that Palestinians will have a hard time going from Gaza and West Bank for the same reason, that they are surrounded by area not controlled by them (and because there is a fence):

This map can be used to tell many stories!

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This is true not just for the story of the Israel and its relationship to its neighbors: what you put on a map depends on what you're trying to tell.

The Legend is very important to know what you're trying to look at. You can have a simple ski map that shows where the trees are, so you don't bump into them.

Ski map

You can have a map that shows where all the restrooms are in New York City!

This Legend of a NY City map lists a lot, including where public restrooms are located!

My dad is a geographer and he and his students make maps of how people in Massachusetts use their land by their homes for lawn, trees and bushes, pavement, swimming pools, etc.

This is actually NOT one of my dad's map, but you get the idea!

You can also have 3D maps that show how high mountains are, street maps like Google Earth with actual satellite pictures of your house, and so many other maps!
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In conclusion, Maps help you find your way around and to learn about an area (but remember, it's from a particular point of view opinion of the mapmaker). Depending on what you want to find out or teach/show others, you will USE a map or MAKE a particular map to define borders and places in the Middle East, get to a bathroom quickly in NYC, or take a dip in a swimming pools on Cape Cod!