Editing Imperialism (section)

===Cartography===
{{See also|Cartographic propaganda}}
[[File:Arthur Mees Flags of A Free Empire 1910 Cornell CUL PJM 1167 01.jpg|thumbnail|By displaying oversized flags of [[British possessions]], this map artificially increases the apparent influence and presence of the [[British Empire]].]]
One of the main tools used by imperialists was cartography. [[Cartography]] is "the art, science and technology of making maps"<ref name="Harley, J.B. 1989">{{Cite journal |last=Harley |first=J. B. |year=1989 |title=Deconstructing the Map |url=http://www.comitepp.sp.gov.br/MESTRADO/files/Texto%2001%20-%20Harley%20A.pdf |journal=Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.3138/E635-7827-1757-9T53 |s2cid=145766679}} p. 2</ref> but this definition is problematic. It implies that maps are objective representations of the world when in reality they serve very political means.<ref name="Harley, J.B. 1989"/> For Harley, maps serve as an example of [[Michel Foucault|Foucault's]] [[Power (social and political)|power]] and [[knowledge]] concept.

To better illustrate this idea, Bassett focuses his analysis of the role of 19th-century maps during the "[[Scramble for Africa]]".<ref name="Bassett, Thomas J. 1994">{{Cite journal |last=Bassett |first=Thomas J. |year=1994 |title=Cartography and Empire Building in Nineteenth-Century West Africa |journal=Geographical Review |volume=84 |issue=3 |pages=316–335 |doi=10.2307/215456 |jstor=215456 |bibcode=1994GeoRv..84..316B |s2cid=161167051}} p. 316</ref> He states that maps "contributed to empire by promoting, assisting, and legitimizing the extension of French and British power into West Africa".<ref name="Bassett, Thomas J. 1994"/> During his analysis of 19th-century cartographic techniques, he highlights the use of blank space to denote unknown or unexplored territory.<ref name="Bassett, Thomas J. 1994"/> This provided incentives for imperial and colonial powers to obtain "information to fill in blank spaces on contemporary maps".<ref name="Bassett, Thomas J. 1994"/>

Although cartographic processes advanced through imperialism, further analysis of their progress reveals many biases linked to [[eurocentrism]]. According to Bassett, "[n]ineteenth-century explorers commonly requested Africans to sketch maps of unknown areas on the ground. Many of those maps were highly regarded for their accuracy"<ref name="Bassett, Thomas J. 1994"/> but were not printed in Europe unless Europeans verified them.