No matter where I end up moving to unexpectedly, I alwasy expect to take a look at maps in a map shop. There is no standard for making or positioning world maps. If you grew up in North America, typically the North American continent would take center place on the map and you would be lead to believe, as a child, that if you went Eastward you would go to Europe, and eventually Moscow. But somewhere just East of Moscow the map would stop, and you would instead have to go westward to get to Siberia via the Pacific Ocean. Children of course would begint o think of the rest of the world as positioned around their own in much the same way as the map printers.
But if you go to Ukraine, you will find Ukraine occupying that sacred space - the middle of the map. Turkey, the same thing, and in Uzbekistan, you will find in Tashkent a globe statue where there is only one country wrapped around that large "map" and it is not the USA, it is the Uzbek nation. Maybe someday if the conteniental shelves move in just the right way, President Karimov of Uzbekistan will realize his dream has come true. I will not hold my breath, however, for this event. If it does in fact happen, I will learn Uzbek.
Not only are the maps centered differently, but you can also see which regions around the world the map printers think their local market value - you cannot put every single city on a map - of every region - you have to select some and leave out others. I was surprised to view a Ukrainian map of the world and see many places on the portion of Canada that I would never have selected at the expense of other places - like North York and many other places in Alberta - where there happen to be large diasporas. Interesting.
This photo is of the global map on top of Okhotniy Riyad in Moscows center, next to the Kremlin and Red Square. This is the first instance when I did not see what I expected in terms of maps and nationalism - the Kremlin is not at the top center piece - nor is Moscow. All of the major Russian places take peripheral positions around the center along with all other major capitals - except that Moscow is given an extra advantage of having a small ornament on its placement of the map.
Of course, one might argue - what about the Man on the Horse on top of the globe? Isn't that a nationalist symbol? Isn't that suggesting "Russia the conqueror of the globe?" Well, I do not know. I am not sure from which country the horse is and whether the horse has such global ambitions. I feel bad for the man on the horse though who does not seem to clearly have control and hardly has a weapon worthy of any serious confrontation.
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