Linguistic & Historical Atlases, etc.

[Mike Cleven]

"Alan H. Hartley" wrote:

> Has anyone seen the _Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication
> in the Pacific, Asia, & the Americas_ (Mouton de Gruyter, 1996, o.o.p.;
> it *was* $784.30)? It is supposed to have an article by Bakker and Grant
> "Interethnic communications in Canada, Alaska, and adjacent areas".

Love to; maybe it's in the Vancouver Public Library or one of the
universities; don't think I'd lay out the dough, though.  What's it say
about Chinook population/distribution?

I have to -highly- recommend that any of you who are into Northwest/BC
history to get the "Historical Atlas of British Columbia and the Pacific
Northwest: Maps of Exploration" by Derek Hayes (Cavendish Books,
Vancouver 1999).  I've been reading and browsing it and am really
impressed; it's quite beautiful and not at all what you might expect;
it's not an analytic or geographic atlas at all, but rather a
damn-near-complete compendium of every trace (real or imagined) of the
Northwest that ever appeared on maps from the different peoples that
made contact with the coast over the centuries; including all major
Russian and Spanish maps; my favourite so far is a Russian-language map
of Vancouver c. 1910.  IIRC there's one in Chinese or Japanese as well
as many other languages.  The book is page after page of often
beautifully illustrated and drawn maps, accompanied by well-written
explanations of the times and circumstances of each map.  Interaction
with native peoples is reported quite honestly, by the way. I even think
that natives who don't particularly think much of the histories of the
explorers and imperial intrigues will appreciate it for the ongoing
political absurdity that was the jostling for dominance between the
imperial powers as represented by shifting boundaries and claims.  It's
also a good "main resource" for regional history as well as a beautiful
book; I paid $49.95 Cdn at Warehouse Books in Vancouver; should be
available at the big bookstores in WA and OR.

I've wanted for a while to compose a map of the spread and use of the
Jargon; I've been looking for a basemap that's suitable for screen
viewing.  My idea is a multilayered map, kind of like those old
transparency sequences in older encyclopaedias (which I always thought
were really neat) but done digitally, something that could be viewed
either in a time-sequence or by choice of period or dialect/usage. I'd
also like to have "reference layers" with native national/linguistic
territories and the modern infrastructure grid(s) as well as other
hopefully useful map objects.  A first raw map for the website will just
be one layer; different shadings for different eras and such.

There's a lot of work to be done to determine the geographic
relationship to the Jargon timeline and to plot out realistic map
objects; I probably won't use boundaries but rather paintcan shadings.
Any suggestions for design or possible resources/themes?

I've seen some census maps of BC at an antique bookstore here showing
native vs. non-native populations and language usages in BC's regional
districts (vintage 1956); hmm, probably should get it if it's still
there; it showed the Skeena-Bulkley (the Gitksan-Wet'su-we'ten country)
as having something like 70% native population.  I don't think they do
these kinds of maps anymore; probably stopped in the 1960s when new
"assimilation" policies were attempted (and backfired, stimulating
native political resurgence ever since); such maps, which baldly declare
the political reality of backwoods BC as utterly native, would be much
too political now to normally appear in a government atlas meant for
public distribution (which is what this map was in).  Certainly
exhaustive mapping and other studies have been done as part of the
Treaty Process, but these are deeply obscured within the boilerplate and
negotiatory rhetoric and largely out of the public view.  Guess I will
get this 1956 atlas; when I get my scanner working again I'll be able to
show you some interesting stuff.

Mike Cleven
http://members.home.net/skookum/
http://members.home.net/cayoosh/