Windows on the World

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Description

Maps aren't simply about getting from A to B. As this program shows, they are often condensations of a particular culture's worldview, and, as such, a map forms a revealing snapshot of a moment in history. Visiting one of humanity's earliest maps, scratched into the rocks of an alpine hillside 3,000 years ago, the film goes on to illustrate how each culture develops its own unique and surprising way of mapping. Examples include Henry VIII's stunning diagrams of the British coastline, maps created by the French Cassini dynasty with the aim of greater scientific accuracy, and a Polynesian navigator's map which has no use for north, south, and east. Problematic cartography comes to light as the program depicts how the British carved the nation of Iraq out of the Middle East.