Showing posts with label jordan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jordan. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Brave Shoe World

This map was posted on the Strangemaps blog last month and I couldn't resist stealing it.
Created by Jordanian political cartoonist Emad Hajjaj, it shows countries and continents as shoes, often in cliched regional styles. Western boots for the USA and Mexico, a pair of mukluks for Canada (with Alaska as a cowboy boot toe), furry boots for Russia and a vaguely Indian looking boot. South America and Africa (except Madagascar) only get one boot per continent with South America being represented as a soccer shoe - cause you know, they're soccer crazy!
There are lots of clever things with the shapes. The soccer shoe really is shaped like South America, Baja California is a high heel, the islands of northern Canada together form a boot and if you look carefully the Caspian Sea is shaped like a boot while the Black Sea is a shoe. And of course Italy is shaped like a boot.
If there's any political meaning behind this it's lost on me. Interestingly his own country is not represented. I could speculate on deeper meanings but I'd rather just appreciate the map.