Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Goals gave an impetus for much more state-level data to be recorded, for preliminary
datasets to be corrected, and for more areas to be counted. Many of the datasets used in the
Worldmapper website are sourced from agencies of the United Nations, such as the United
Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization and the United Nations
Statistics Division. The availability of this data has made world mapping possible for the
366 subjects that we have mapped; and as we write, more databases are becoming available
and more maps are becoming feasible.
The aim of this project is to communicate this data. We consider these maps to be useful,
effective and interesting vehicles to achieve this aim, but read on to see if you agree. It is
important to communicate world data because it is about us, and it can greatly increase our
understandings of the world and our positions within it. Each of us has some right and some
responsibility to understand how our life relates to those of others. Beyond this talk of rights
and responsibilities, we hope that these pictures are also interesting and thought-provoking.
This project is politically timely, given the recent demands to 'Make Poverty History', because
our maps illustrate the extent of worldwide inequalities that result in poverty. Of course
maps themselves do not change anything; they are just - if well drawn - accessible, legible
descriptions of many facets of the world. Yet, as Rosa Luxemberg (1871-1919) stated: 'the
most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening'.
Text Box 5.1: Promises
The UK Government is committed to tackling the problem of child poverty. In March
1999, the Prime Minister Tony Blair set out a commitment to end child poverty forever:
And I will set out our historic aim that ours is the first generation to end child
poverty forever, and it will take a generation. It is a 20-year mission but I believe
it can be done.
Compare with:
within a decade no child will go to bed hungry, . . . no family will fear for its next
days bread and . . . no human being's future and well being will be stunted by
malnutrition.
(Henry Kissinger,
First World Food Conference
, Rome 1974)
Source: Gordon (2004).
World human geography and history are not well known. If you are reading this, it is
doubtful that you know who Rosa Luxemberg was and how she was tortured and died for
proclaiming loudly what was happening. However, you can type Rosa's name into an Internet
search engine and find out more about where, when and how she lived. You could not do
that in 1968, or 1978 or even 1988. The history and geography of those whose individual
stories are not recorded is much harder to grasp. In the remainder of the century since Rosa's
death over 130 million people - mostly adults - have been killed worldwide in genocides
(more than in all the wars of that century). At the end of the twentieth century, due almost
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