
How mapmakers help indigenous people defend their lands - Thevet
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2018/10/indigenous-cultures-mapping-projects-reclaim-lands-columbus
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smcmurtry
A similar thing happened in the last place I lived, a small town in the
Northwest Territories, Canada. The indigenous people in the area (called the
Tlicho) were able to take over some of the governance of their land from the
Canadian government, including mineral rights. It is a pretty significant
amount of land too, about 100km x 200km. To make the case they had to map
which land was included in their territory and demonstrate that their use of
it goes back a long time. So they sent out their elders and professional map
makers on canoe trips along their traditional hunting routes. The map makers
collected gps data and associated it with stories from the elders and
artifacts they found along the way, which built a compelling case for the land
claim.

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ris
Tangentially related, the missing maps project
[http://www.missingmaps.org/](http://www.missingmaps.org/) is also working to
map communities whose populations have often never been represented on a map,
though in this case to help humanitarian organizations to access them.

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veddox
Map making is quite a fascinating, and intricate business!

One tends to take maps for granted, but making a good one really does take
quite a bit of work. (And just imagine how it was before satellite imagery, or
even GPS...) For an interesting bit of cartographic history, read the story of
Ordnance Survey in the UK:
[https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/about/overview/history.html](https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/about/overview/history.html)

