The Evolution of Fruits, Linguistically and Genetically in Maps
Most of us assume pineapples come from Hawaii, melons from the Southeast, potatoes from Idaho, cherries from Utah and Michigan, wheat from Kansas, soybeans from Illinois, corn from Iowa, and almonds from California.
It's actually not so.
Pineapples come from the border region of Brazil and Paraguay, melons from Southern Africa, potatoes from Bolivia, cherries from the Caucasus, wheat from Turkey and the Levant, soybeans from Southeast Asia, corn from Mexico, and almonds from the Caucasus.
Humans love to domesticate, breed, and trade differing varieties of plants and animals. It is one of those attributes that distinguishes us from the animal kingdom. A great overview of our ability to domesticate can be found in the book Guns, Germs, and Steel by the biogeographer Jared Diamond. We could domesticate cattle, but never moose because they have one leader, and if you gain control of the leader, you become the leader and they will do what they say. Moose are more independent. Let's get back to plants. Plants can recombine their chromosomes, add whole sets of chromosomes, and create new plants this way. Polyploidy is the name of the game, and it allows human plant breeders to be that much more creative than we can be with animals.
Recently on LinkedIn, a set of maps showed up in my feed. As a biogeographer, human/cultural geographer, and geospatial linguist, I found this fascinating. I wish I could attribute the author, but I figured someone would want to see it. These maps are at the top of their game for form, function, and beauty and truly exemplify the principles of Edward Tufte, the great data visualization expert.
I hope to make maps this good someday.
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