Understanding Maps

Entendre els mapes (Understanding Maps) is an invitation to look at cartography in a different way. Maps help us find our bearings and understand the world, but they are neither neutral nor innocent representations of reality. Each map selects, orders, prioritises and leaves things out; behind every line, every border and every perspective lies a particular way of looking at the world.

In clear, journalistic language, Vicent Partal explains the rules that anyone interested in or curious about maps should bear in mind when learning how to interpret them. He also reveals the enormous political and cultural influence that any cartographic decision can have and, therefore, warns us about the manipulations and misunderstandings to which we may be exposed. With analytical acuity and an accessible style, he invites us to decipher maps beyond the lines we see: as tools of power, as historical narratives, as symbolic conventions and as mirrors of the way we understand and conceive the world.

Maps do not merely represent the world; they impose a particular view of it. That is why it is important to know how to read them.