Sure...it looks like just a map of "Western" Europe. But there is something super groovy about it. Take a closer look at the title block.
Perhaps it is too small to notice. This map is from 1950. It's a classic from NatGeo. I saw it on the wall of a new friend's living room. I knew it was old from first glance, but then I saw something that excited me even more. This map has the Allied occupation zones of post-WWII Germany delineated. This map reminds me of three ideas of geography...or history...or whatever. The third is my favorite of the three.
1) The victors write the history books. Notice that this map cuts off right at Berlin on the east side of the map? The definition of "Western" Europe was written by the non-communist Allies....and it doesn't include East Germany...oh ya, except for Berlin....only because the non-communist Allies all controlled territory in Berlin.
2) History repeats itself. Those occupation zones really make it evident that maps tell stories...and they are biased. This map says that who "occupies" a pseudo-sovereign nation is important. Check out the occupation zones in Iraq in 2003.
3) The transmission of information through people keeps happening...accurately or not. THe zone of occupation for the United States was in the south of Germany. That area includes Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemburg, and High German language. You may not recognize any of that...but I bet you will recognize a few other things. Lederhosen...strudel...snowy mountains...yodeling...nutcrackers...cuckoo clocks...the Black Forest. Those are all "German" things that really are centered in the south of Germany...not ALL of Germany. Whether you learned it in basic grade school texts or from movies like Heidi or The Sound of Music or National Lampoon's European Vacation, you probably learned a biased image of German culture.
Why does understanding regional differences and history matter? Let's start with Germany. It could be as simple as what you will imbibe if you go to Germany. Germany=beer, right? It is true that all of Germany has high beer consumption, but the south has far higher wine consumption than the north. You may go over thinking beer but come home with a suitcase full of wine. Remembering past divisions is important to understanding the political environment as well. Former communist East Germany is the home of the current German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Chancellor Merkel grew up in a country that was far less developed than the rest of Germany and still to this day struggles. It's like the American South after Jim Crow allowed respectable companies to enter from other parts of the United States. Surely hailing from the "backwoods" colors one's perspective on national politics.
Now back to Iraq since I mentioned it previously. Iraq is not as simple as one outlined box of sandy beige on a (mislabeled) Fox News map. Northern Iraq is far different from central Iraq and Baghdad. The Kurds aren't even Arabs...and heck, they aren't even just in Iraq. There are more Kurds in Turkey than Iraq and probably more in Iran than Iraq as well. Knowing that the Iraqis in Kirkuk have more cultural similarities to their brethren over the borders in Turkey and Iran than to their compatriots in Baghdad is an important thing. It certainly has mattered in the occupation of Iraq. It wouldn't be a perfect comparison, but imagine this: Mexican-Americans whose families have lived for 150 years in south Texas may share more cultural values with Mexicans across the border than they do with Lithuanian-Americans in Chicago.
