Map names are the primary instrument of imperial spatial power.

Evidence

But, as Helgerson points out, maps could just as easily function ‘in untroubled support of a strongly centralized monarchic regime,’ though Philip II of Spain thought his maps sufficiently subversive to keep them under lock and key as a state secret. Colbert’s plans for a rational spatial integration of the French nation state (focused as much upon the enhancement of trade and commerce as upon administrative efficiency) are typical of the deployment of the ‘cold rationality’ of maps used for instrumental ends in support of centralized state power. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1585 (#complicates, via linked claim)

There are also claims by Arab states on non-Arab states, such as the Syrian claim, never renounced, to the Sanjak of Alexandretta; the Libyan claim to ter­ ritory in Chad; and the Moroccan claim to the Spanish Presidios. Some claims are not specifically about land or people but about resources, the most important being the Turkish control over the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates, an irritation to Syria and still more to Iraq. There are many more such claims which have been or may be asserted between the former Soviet republics in Central Asia and Transcaucasia. If the Soviets had devised the frontiers with a view to causing future trouble, they hardly could have done a better job. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1614 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Mapmaking is a fundamental instrument of imperial and surveillance power. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 485; Geography acquired imperial and civilizational prestige across Western powers. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 536; Maps can construct territory rather than merely represent it — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 661 (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• The same map technology can serve either subversive or centralizing political ends #complicates (0.78) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1585
• Imperial powers drew frontiers that maximize future regional conflict #complicates (0.75) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1614
• A non-European empire also engaged in colonial cartography #complicates (0.72)