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It’s hard not to get lost in Strange Maps, a cartographic compendium based on the blog of the same name. Its exhibits range from the hypothetical (a depressing map of the planet after 1,000 years of global warming) to the hyperliteral (“Area Codes in Which Ludacris Claims to Have Hoes,” a geographic transcription of the rapper’s 2001 hit “Area Codes”). Even the historical maps have a touch of whimsy, such as William Harvey’s 1869 map of Spain and Portugal (below). Harvey hoped such fanciful images would entice those “who commonly think Globes and Maps but wearisome aids to Knowledge.” Strange Maps carries on in that tradition.
