This is the first of four primary source analyses you will complete for this course. Following are several questions to guide you through your first analysis. Subsequent analyses will be self-directed, although many of these questions can guide you through those as well. The first one will not be graded; however, those who fail to submit the assignment will lose two points off their final grade.

Examine the Imperial Federation Map of the World

Colomb, J. CR. “Imperial Federation Map of the World [Image file]”, 1886, July 24. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Imperial_Federation,_Map_of_the_World_Showing_the_Extent_of_the_British_Empire_in_1886_(levelled).jpg
1.What does this map express about the British Empire?
2.What does it express about Great Britain?
3.What elements of the image serve as evidence to support your conclusions above?
4.How do the non-cartographical elements of the image reinforce, change, or undermine the information provided by the map itself?
5.Historians are often encouraged to keep in mind the terms of production, distribution, and consumption of a historical source. Although this was published in a British illustrated weekly magazine, maps like this one were mass-produced and displayed in public spaces throughout the empire: in places of business, in print advertisements, on postage stamps. They were especially visible in schoolrooms. How do these terms of production, distribution, and consumption help us make critical historical conjectures about this source?
6.Historical texts and sources often conceal as much information as they reveal. What does this map not tell us about the British Empire? About Great Britain as an imperial power?
7.To think about: How do you think maps (in general) might make good historical sources? What can they tell us about history?

Put your name followed by PSA (which stands for primary source analysis) and the number represents which one you have completed.