English
Maps can be very instrumental in the description of a given geographical period. The most interesting thing about this description is that it is seemingly limitless. This means that maps can be used to describe a wide range of factors that exist in a given geographical zone for example population or the structure of the land in terms of topography and the general outline of the structures of the land if they are natural or manmade. Thus maps are very instrumental as far as the description of a given place is concerned. The following essay focuses on a map titled anti-Semitic incidents in Europe in 1991.thiis map focuses primarily on the European region and the general feeling of the European community about the Jewish people in the year 1991 though the data appearing on the map is spread over a couple of months though all in the same year. Thus this is a map based on the political opinion of the greater European community as far as the Jewish community is concerned or rather the emotional and political disposition of the European people towards the Jewish people back in the year 1991.the following essay takes an in depth look at the map and the data presented in the map. The essay scrutinizes the map in terms of its accuracy factor and relevance measure as far as the issue of the European disposition towards the Jews if it is emotional or otherwise is concerned. The essay also focuses on the style used by the map maker in this instance to get his point across to the audience and the measure of effectiveness of this method as far as audience comprehension of the topic matter is concerned.
This particular map can be accredited to map makers Gilbert and Martin. This particular map is an extraction from the Routege atlas on Jewish history which was printed in the year 2006.the audience as far as this map is concerned is the entire globe or rather humanity as a whole. This is because the map focuses on the plight of the Jewish people in Europe as far as the rest of the continent felt about them. This thus ceases to be a regional matter and adopts a more global paradigm when an entire continent proverbially pronounces war on a single race and aims at the complete subjugation of this race. Thus this map is an attempt by the map makers to highlight the plight of the Jewish people in Europe across the entire globe so that the whole world has a very clear picture of the exact situation on the ground in Europe as far as this matter is concerned. The stated purpose of the map can be extrapolated directly from the title of the map and with reasonably minimal effort at that. This is because the title of the map is in itself self-explanatory as far as the purpose of the map is concerned. The map is titled anti-Semitic incidents in Europe in the year 1991 and this title more or less speaks for itself in that there are absolutely no vague aspects as far as the title of this map is concerned. This title is precise and heads straight to the point in as far as describing what the map is all about. The title of the map is also precise in giving information about the time period in which the activities occurring in the map occurred and thus gives the audience a much clearer picture of the actual situation in the ground back then as far as the issue being discussed in the map is concerned.
The map makers are very strategic in as far as the passing of their message through this particular map is concerned. Primarily this map is about European opinions thus the main or rather only focus area in this map is Europe. To this effect the map makers have a map of the European continent as a major aspect of this map. Unlike most maps which focus on the transport network or topographical features in a given area this map deals almost exclusively with the state boundaries of the countries of interest. In other words this is a map of the countries that are of interest as far as the topic of the map is concerned. This particular map only outlines the states that are of interest by their boundaries and by their names. Thus states that are not of interest as far as the topic of the map is concerned do not have their names inscribed within their boundaries. This is a very instrumental strategy as far as emphasis is concerned. This is because this strategy ensures that the countries that are of interest as far as the topic of the map is concerned stand out from the other countries appearing on the map. This therefore is an effective strategy by the map makers to get their message across to the audience as effectively and firmly as possible. This is a strategy that is aimed at disambiguation and a clear cut description of all the concerned parties in terms of their national boundaries so as to give the audience a clear cut description of how widespread the anti-Semitic incidents were back in 1991 thus making them a continental issue and by extension a global issue.
Another aspect that tends to stand out in this particular map in the countries that have been named on the map for example Austria is the name of certain cities or towns within these countries. These cities or towns are the only highlighted parts of these key countries and this clearly makes them stand out. The odd factor about these cities that leads to them being emphasized on in this particular map is the fact that in each of these cities a major event occurred that contributed to the topic of the map be it on a protagonist level or in an unfriendly and rather antagonistic paradigm. This thus makes these particular cities very important to the map makers as far as getting their message across to their audience is concerned. This is because the map makers focus not only on a given country which is instrumental to the topic of the map in its entirety but they narrow down to the very city where a contributing factor occurred thus creating a rather comprehensive paradigm and a more conclusive allure to the map in its entirety as an informative map. Some of these cities happen to be the capital cities of their respective countries such as Moscow which is the capital of Russia while some of these cities just so happen be key areas where a major historical event took place that contributes to the topic of the map and thus is instrumental to the matter in question as far as this particular map is concerned.
Adjacent to every highlighted city on this map is a note. This note contains a certain date and month all from the year 1991 and a record of events that took place in that particular city on that very date that tends to affect the Jews in Europe. An example is the town of Leningrad in Russia. Next to this town are a note that is dated back to the 8th of July and a record of events relevant to the topic that took place on this particular date. In this case the historical happening in question is the display of anti-Semitic posters in this particular town. This historical event is very important especially to this map and the message t conveys because this was an open statement by the people of this town about their emotions or rather disposition towards the jaws. So much was their distaste of the Jews that they took out their frustrations to the streets going as far as to put their emotions in writing and displaying them in the streets for everyone to see and especially as a warning to the target group.5this technique by the map makers helps to add an allure of reality to the map. The audience is thus capable of narrowing down to the very city and date that a relevant event took place. Despite all this the audience is further capable of documenting the very event that took place thus making this particular map by all means very conclusive and friendly to the audience in question which is in this instance a global perspective on the plight of the Jews.
