In Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), the Inuit people are known for carving portable maps out of driftwood to be used while navigating coastal waters. These pieces, which are small enough to be carried in a mitten, represent coastlines in a continuous line, up one side of the wood and down the other. The maps are compact, buoyant, and can be read in the dark.
These three wooden maps show the journey from Sermiligaaq to Kangertittivatsiaq, on Greenland’s East Coast. The map to the right shows the islands along the coast, while the map in the middle shows the mainland and is read from one side of the block around to the other. The map to the left shows the peninsula between the Sermiligaaq and Kangertivartikajik fjords.
Source: Topografisk Atlas Grønland
[…] Inuit Cartography […]
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[…] 6) 🗺 Fascinating: “Inuit cartography.” […]
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Reblogged this on msamba.
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[…] https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/inuit-cartography/ […]
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[…] Via The Decolonial Atlas […]
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[…] de los mapas tridimensionales [ imagen: The Decolonial Atlas […]
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Seems a hole at one end with a thong through it would have made it easier to orient and harder to lose to a rogue wave. It sounds like a great mnemonic device, but only useful on dark moonless nights as long as a paddler can risk paddling very near the coast.
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Modern charts too would be useless without being part of an integral system of navigation. I’m sure there was more to Inuit navigation techniques and dismissing them as a mere “mnemonic aid” sounds a bit overly simplistic in light of the evidence of successful sea voyages these people undertook..
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[…] Inuit Cartography from Topografisk atlas Grønland […]
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[…] map, carved of driftwood, and showing the topography of the land. It was similar to those shown here. We were also shown the beautiful hand-drawn maps of explorers, and were able to see how their […]
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[…] https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/inuit-cartography/ […]
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https://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-short/hes-got-whole-coast-his-hand?utm_source=Hakai+Magazine+Weekly&utm_campaign=d038c62991-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0fc1967411-d038c62991-109577961
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Great. Fyi, “Inuit people” is redundant. The word Inuit translates to “the people.”
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[…] Amusingplanet Wikipedia / decolonialatlas.wordpress.com / Arctic Unito tramite […]
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[…] Inuit carve portable, waterproof, floating maps out of driftwood for use in navigating the […]
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[…] Inuit carve portable, waterproof, floating maps out of driftwood for use in navigating the […]
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[…] Inuit carve portable, waterproof, floating maps out of driftwood for use in navigating the littoral. These three wooden maps show the journey from Sermiligaaq to […]
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[…] Inuit carve portable, waterproof, floating maps out of driftwood for use in navigating the […]
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[…] Inuit Cartography. (2016). [Graph illustration]. The Decolonial Atlas. Retrieved from https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/inuit-cartography/ […]
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[…] “Inuit Cartography” [The Decolonial Atlas] […]
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Beautiful carvings.
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[…] Earth, we are consciously creating maps which help us to re-imagine the world – to decolonize. https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/inuit-cartography/ }Inuit Cartography, April 12, 2016. […]
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Human innovation, creativity, and adaptation to their environment. Fascinating! Thank you!
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[…] По материалам портала THE DECOLONIAL ATLAS. […]
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These maps were mentioned in a “Dead Media Project” note (http://www.deadmedia.org/notes/15/157.html) with links to some references (Papanek, McLuhan, Carpenter).
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[…] How cool is this ? “The maps are compact, buoyant, and can be read in the dark.” […]
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[…] Cet article à propos de la cartographie chez les populations inuites […]
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[…] Bonus Map Link: Please enjoy this article about Inuit Cartography. […]
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[…] Inuit cartography. […]
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[…] “Inuit Cartography” [The Decolonial Atlas] […]
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Lovecraft would have loved to see one of those.
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[…] wood maps are well-known Inuit instruments of cartography, made to navigate the coastal waters and inland areas of Greenland. The maps are read by feeling […]
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Very beautiful little maps that float 🙂 In “Arctic Dreams” Barry Lopez wrote about an Inuk from what is now the Kivalliq region of Nunavut who, with no prior exposure to maps, could draw an accurate topographical map of land and coastline from memory. And as one of my Arviammiut friends said – “Inuksuit are better than a GPS – never need batteries”.
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[…] Inuit cartography, or, what Greenland looks like from a small boat. […]
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This is at least seven different and independent kinds of awesome!
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The map on the right looks like a side view of a totem pole with distinct faces
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[…] tool as open source https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/node/150792 Greenland – Inuit Cartography https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/inuit-cartography/ Ukraine prepares to make Soviet KGB archives available online […]
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[…] They fascinate me and I love to make, adore and study them. The weirder the map though, the better. The Inuit people of Greenland have made some pretty weird maps. Carved of driftwood and made to fit inside a mitten, they are tactile maps which allow a traveler […]
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سلام من به نقشهای زیر خاکی آذربایجان شرقی سراب نیاز دارم لطفا
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Very interesting! As practical and portable as any paper map.
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[…] to react under stress. So needless to say I was pretty thrilled when a friend of mine linked me to this little article about how the Inuit people of Greenland carve detailed coastal maps made of […]
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[…] https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/inuit-cartography/ […]
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Super interesting! Congrats!
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[…] Source: The Decolonial Atlas […]
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Reminds me of the wave refraction maps made by the South Pacific Islanders.
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Incredibly cool!
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wow. this is really interesting but not surprising. what a smart way to navigate
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Glad to discover this 😊
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Wow, amazing
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Reblogged this on things I've read or intend to.
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Brilliant!
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