Summary Of Lisa Kasmer's 'Mapping The Nation'

Improved Essays
In the “Mapping the Nation” seminar presented by Lisa Kasmer, many different aspects of mapping in relation to British imperialism were discussed. Another way Britain showed their assumed superiority over other nations was through mapping. One example Kasmer discussed was the mapping of India. This map was just one of the many in King George’s topographical map collection. Since the British made the made, only their territories were identified through the color red, shading, and titles, etc. In this map the middle of India was left blank as to say nothing existed there, and it is up for grabs. Britain also did this with several other maps, which is just another way they treated other nations, cultures, and people as the lesser. In addition

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In A Too-Perfect Picture, author Teju Cole discusses the ways in which western visitors misrepresent the country of India. Because of India’s past colonization by the British, Indians have a long history of the western world imposing power over them. Cole uses the example of Steve…

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The power of the British empire was able to put down rebellion with minimal struggle, overcome the expense, and reap the numerous benefits that dictating India brought. The chapter of Imperialism in British history was an important one, as it shaped British policy for over a century. Britain’s triumph over India benefitted Britain through gleaning them resources and an ally during the world wars. With minimal resources used during the conquest, the reward highly exceeded the cost.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dbq New Imperialism

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The three most responsible forces for new imperialism in the late 19th and early twentieth centuries were trade, nationalism and the white mans burden. Trade was an important cause of imperialism because; it allowed countries to generate capital in foreign lands. Nationalism was an important cause of new imperialism because; many European powers that imperialized thought themselves the greatest political power in the world. The white man’s burden was another key cause of new imperialism due to the fact that many European Empires used it as an excuse to imperialize weaker nations. Trade was a key reason for new imperialism.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Imperialism is a policy that seeks to increase its size, either by forcing or influencing other countries to submit to their rule. During the 1800s, Great Britain’s empire expanded to include India, other parts of Asia, and parts of Africa. Great Britain’s colonial rule had both positive and negative effects on the colonial empire. There were political, and economic causes of British Imperialism. Great Britain not only modernised countries, but also benefitted from them by their useful advantages.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The “culture of poverty” mindset creates a distances between the impoverished and the wealthy. Ehrenreich provides the term “culture of poverty” as exemplified in Michael Harrington's The Other America. This work is the foundation in which Ehrenreich reveals the reality of poverty and the misconceptions of the term. There is the idea that “The poor were different from the rest of us, it argued, radically different, and not just in the sense that they were deprived, disadvantaged, poorly housed, or poorly fed.”(607) This idea promotes that if adults with different economic backgrounds are totally different why would their children differ.…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Apush Empire Dbq Analysis

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    At its height, the British Empire was known as “the empire on which the sun never sets” due to the mass amount of territories it owned—therefore, at least one part of the empire was in daylight. However, as depicted in the map of Document 7, this global empire was difficult to govern due to its massive scale—causing a political disconnect between Britain and its colonies. In 1858, the British Empire took direct control over the Indian subcontinent after the previous ruler, the British East India Company, caused the Sepoy Mutiny and subsequently India’s widespread hatred of British rule. Document 8 describes Great Britain’s loss of India, its primary market and source of resources, as a colony due to the large debt Britain owed to India and the increasing number of nationalist riots and resulting casualties. The main cause for the creation of the British Empire was a lack of natural resources for industrialization and factories.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the time period of 1786 through the 1800s, a lot of historical plans went into effect, which has shaped our nation today. In Chapter 8: The New Nation, plans of forming a brand new government had started mainly because of Whiskey’s and Shay’s rebellion. Each rebellion shed light on the extreme amount on taxes to the people, and it showed that the people needed some type of stability from the government. Three important men in chapter eight are George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams. George Washington became the First President of the United States or America on April 30, 1739.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Imperialism was a country’s means of expanding their power, which often resulted in negative effects for the countries deemed inferior. As time progressed, intentions seemed to sway from the original goal. Though coined as the White Man’s Burden, imperialism typically burdened the countries it “helped”; dominating those with weaker economies, exerting its power internationally, and causing harmful backlash from indigenous people. British imperialism in India is a perfect example of how a powerful country was capable of bending another under its control. Great Britain created and maintained an expansive array of products, which helped form an economic backbone.…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The technology we have today is essential in preventing future tragedies. Ruxandra Floroiu, in her book Altering America discusses the communications during a Natural Disasters Roundtable forum, on October 31, 2002, which was held to review the influence media can have during natural disasters. Floroiu provides the perspectives shared at the forum which coincides with my own beliefs. The forums main indication was that technology plays a role of “tracking potential disaster agents, alert authorities, and educate and warn the public…” (par. 2). This description of the media is accurate because if the media had not existed, natural disasters would be more devastating, and result in more casualties, due to the lack of warning systems shared through…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Great America The America I believe in is strong and united, because of our unbelievably strong army, equal opportunity and patriotism. This country is somewhere people can move and know they will have the same opportunity as the people who already live here. We have an extraordinary amount of money put into our army because our army will continue to earn us our freedoms. We honor those who fight for us because they are putting their life on the line.…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Real of the Ideal The meaning of an American identity is an ideal and a contradiction. In Creating America, Joyce Moser and Ann Watters suggest that, “In understanding American identities, we need to come to terms with unity and division, with separateness and common ground”. This quotation is full of contradictions such as “unity” to “division” and “separateness” to “common ground”. The contradiction gives a complete image of America.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the episode Cartographers for social equality, by the tv show the west wing. A group of map-makers that work for the OCSC are presenting, what they believe is the right map known as Peter’s Projection map. They have a plan to change the current map and replace it with the Peter’s Projection map and then, make it a mandatory map for all U.S schools. They meet C.J Cregg and Josh Lyman to explain their plans. Cynthia Sales a group member claims, “The mercator projection has fostered European imperialist attitudes for centuries and has created an ethnic bias against 3rd world countries”(1:01).…

    • 288 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the British Empire’s reign, many people had opposing views on the rest of the world. While some viewed colonized people as equals, others felt superiority over the rest of the world in many ways. Rudyard Kipling was an English writer who was someone who believed that even people from different ends of the earth could still get along. Richard Meinertzhagen, a British man who traveled to Kenya, wrote about his experience in his journal. He demonstrated in many ways his sense of superiority among the native people.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Britain annexed and ruled India, they made great changes and created a vast impact. Britain invaded India knowing that India would offer many benefits and that there were many people to take from. When the British ruled, they had very forceful system and used many tactics to make sure they had full control over the Indians, therefor changing the ways the Indian thought. Lastly, the British made many adjustments in India’s culture as well. The British definitely changed the daily lives of many Indians.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the extract from the essay ’’ The new empire within Britain’’ Salman Rushdie, an Indian born Briton and author, explores the subjects of institutional racism, the subconscious racist nature of the English language and the stains that the time of imperialism has left on the British mentality. To gather Rushdie’s main thesis, one need only to look at the title: “The New Empire within Britain”. Rushdie states: “It sometimes seems that the British authorities, no longer capable of exporting governments, have chosen instead to import a new empire, a new community of subject peoples to whom they think, and with whom they can deal in very much the same ways as their predecessors thought of and dealt with’’ (p.1, ll.4-9) The Britons once dominated…

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays