The Portuguese empire was actually the first one to be classed as “global”. Apparently it was also the longest-lived of all the modern European colonial empires. There are now 49 countries in the world which at some point were under the rule of Portugal; pretty amazing stuff. What’s even more amazing though is that, to my humble knowledge, the Portuguese seem quite incapable of producing an accurate map of their own country.
The Pavlovskys are keen investors in maps and have several Portuguese specimens. All have their quirks. One places the village we live in a full 10km from its actual location. Another draws several motorways in completely wrong places. I cannot tell you the number of times we’re driven through a small town, stopped to scour the map for it wondering where on earth we are, then realise the place is just not even aknowledged on the map at all.
Now, that might be fine - spontaneity is always fun, especially when you’re on holiday. But what’s laughable is that the German supermarket Lidl here stocks large maps of Europe produced by German cartographers. These sellout within days of their arrival since they’re the most reliable maps available in the entire country. It makes me wonder whether the Portuguese, sometime on their way to one of their colonies, just took a wrong turn and the locals just carried on as sovereign states without them...
The Pavlovskys are keen investors in maps and have several Portuguese specimens. All have their quirks. One places the village we live in a full 10km from its actual location. Another draws several motorways in completely wrong places. I cannot tell you the number of times we’re driven through a small town, stopped to scour the map for it wondering where on earth we are, then realise the place is just not even aknowledged on the map at all.
Now, that might be fine - spontaneity is always fun, especially when you’re on holiday. But what’s laughable is that the German supermarket Lidl here stocks large maps of Europe produced by German cartographers. These sellout within days of their arrival since they’re the most reliable maps available in the entire country. It makes me wonder whether the Portuguese, sometime on their way to one of their colonies, just took a wrong turn and the locals just carried on as sovereign states without them...
April 22, 2011 at 11:07 PM
who knew? That's great!
April 26, 2011 at 1:53 PM
Hurray! L-plate is back! An education as ever
April 5, 2012 at 9:26 PM
You're clearly retarded, don't talk about stuff you don't know you idiot! Portuguese maps consistently win awards from international companies like ESRI, Intergraph, etc, in fact, when these conpanies wnat to show their new cartographic products they choose Portuguese military maps as a showcase. I know because I worked there as a cartographic engineer. By the way, for the portuguese Lidl isjust a cheap place with low quality stuff, no one in their perfec t mind would buy a map over there, you're clearly making up these stuff, what an idiot
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