Dec 25, 2020
The map is the perfect symbol of the state. If your grand duchy or tribal area seems tired, run down, and frayed at the edges, simply take a sheet of paper, plot some cities, roads and physical features, draw a heavy, distinct boundary around as much territory as you dare claim, color it in, add a name — perhaps reinforced with the impressive prefix of “Republic of” — and presto: you are now the leader of a new, sovereign, autonomous country. Should anyone doubt it, merely point to the map. Not only is your new state on paper, its on a map, so it must be real.
Mark Monmonier (author, How to Lie with Maps)
