[MONTRÉAL] Before going somewhere for the first time, it’s always nice to get a preliminary view of the place, if only to feed the excitement with anticipation. Maps have always been, for me, synonymous with adventure; a preliminary step toward discovery of a future destination. Maps always help me orient myself quickly to a place shortly after arrival. Actually, they make me feel as though I know the place long before arriving. Entering a central square, crossing a major intersection or circling a roundabout in a city for the first time can bring about a sense of nostalgia from cartographic familiarity in absentia.
Below, I’ll continually add maps I find that will give me that I-know-this-place feeling once I get myself to Sudan and help me better understand the situation there: its history, the migration of refugees & internally displaced persons (IDPs), its physical landscape and topography, its transport network, its development strategies, etc.
To view a much more comprehensive and growing list of maps click on Maps Tab above
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SELECTED MAPS (Click to download or view better quality image.)
GENERAL:
January 1, 1956 Line of Demarcation Map
(source: Map No. 3707 Rev. 10, UNITED NATIONS, Department of Peacekeeping Operations Cartographic Section, April 2007; demarcation line source is US Department of State)
South Sudan Challenges Map
(source: Reuters, 2011)
Satelite Image Map
(Source: NASA)
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MIGRATION MAPS:
Spontaneous Returns from Place of Displacement and Final Destination of Returnees (tracked on-route)
(source: International Organization for Migration IOM, 2008)
IOM Internally Displaced Persons Return Routes – by road, river and air 2007-2008
(source: International Organization for Migration, 28 January 2008)
IDP Registration, Returns and Refugee Repatriation supported by IOMIDP Registration, Returns and Refugee Repatriation supported by IOM
(source: IOM GIS Unit, Data Source: IOM IDP Registration Databases, Movement statistics & IOM supported repatriation statistics; 18/09/2007)
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(source: European Coalition on Oil in Sudan, 2007)
European Coalition on Oil in Sudan and National Park & Wildlife Reserve (overlay)
Sudan Oil / Wildlife Overlay (source: Wildlife Conservation Society and European Coalition on Oil in Sudan, 2007)
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POLITICAL BOUNDARY MAPS:
Comparative Map of the Abyei Area
Arbitration Award Map (source: Permanent Court of Arbitration, July 22, 2009)
Hi! I just wanted to mention that unfortunately Dr. Izady’s maps on culture, religion, and languages are quite inaccurate.. he is missing some rather large ethnic groups and his sources are probably more than 50 years out of date, some more than 100. As an example, “Hamitic” is a racist idea originating in the 1800′s and popularized by Seligman in the 1930′s in “The Negro Race”, grouping together various pastoralist groups across Africa. Greenberg debunked the idea quite thoroughly in the 1950′s, so anyone still using sources predating that is either not well informed or sorely out of date.
Izady’s information on languages, families, and their relations is not just out of date, it’s completely incorrect.. if you want a more accurate representation of languages, try: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_map.asp?name=SD&seq=10 . It’s not the best map but perhaps you can overlay it somehow?
Don, Thank you for the input about Dr. Izady’s maps on culture, religion and languages. Although I am unable to confirm nor deny your allegations regarding Izady’s maps, I’ve added the map that you proposed from the Ethonologue website. I encourage readers to visit their website to learn more about culture, religion and languages in South Sudan.
Don’s hyperbole is shocking. The maps are “completely” inaccurate?! Where do you get that type of reasoning?? They are in full conformity with every standard world atlas, media and non-PC-victimized academic work.
So you don’t like the names he uses. Ok. you are entitled to your own opinion no matter how odd or out of main stream. But you radicalism and your hyperbole is not helpful to the South Sudanese or anybody. At least these others invest time and scholarship in their work. Do you have any maps of your own to post here?
And that Ethnologue.com web site is an incomplete and patchy work of many contributors, some good, some bad and some so-so. For Sudan it gives just some patchworks of info, a few with a great detail, others with next to nothing, presumably to be completed later on. In its present state, Ethnologue is far from having anything as usual as the stuff by the likes of Izady.
So, control your anger and dont throw around hyperbole.
clarence
It seems there are a couple schools of thought here. Since I’m not an expert, I prefer to have multiple sources of maps rather than choose one over another for the blog’s visitors. If you know of other maps about South Sudan that can be added to this page to make it even more complete, please send me a link.