I have a small undated J Bartholomew atlas of the world,
which must of been published around the start of World War
one.
Looking at the maps in this work is a lesson in history,
for within this atlas you will find the following places: –
Galicia,
Bohemia,
East and West Prussia,
Schleswig-holstein,
Christiania,
Siam,
Nubia,
Ceylon,
Manchuria,
Austria-Hungary,
Servia,
Peking,
St Petersburg,
Annam,
Persia,
Rhodesia,
Silesia,
Moravia,
German South West Africa,
German East Africa,
&
The Belgium Congo.
Though the more knowledgable of you may be able to place
these counties, regions, or towns upon the map,
it might prove be very difficult for those individuals who are a
product of our modern education system to be able to do so.
The point being that many of those places have changed their
names since the publication of this atlas,
much in the same way as national boarders have oscillated
over the centuries.
This is turn might be a very good starting point for a lesson in
linguistics.
Even a fleeting glance at this atlas will confirm just how
much the political map of the world has changed over the last
100 years.
It all goes to show that there is nothing static about politics,
or just how we see and name the world about us.
Yet while the Russian, Japanese, Dutch, Austro-Hungarian,
French, Spanish, British, and German Empires
of the last century have long gone,
we are still exploiting the world in the very same way.
We need to start thinking about the world in global terms,
and not via the names of states which will continue to come
and go.
Only then will we be able to start dealing with global issues
at a local level,
and not be bound to thinking about the short term shifting
needs of the nation state.