As a cartographer looking for work in Nuuk, I've become pretty interested in what sort of historical mapping and base data (potentially useful to yours truly) are available for Greenland. In my research I've learned about some interesting cartographic specimens that use wood as their medium. Unfortunately these won't be too immediately useful to me as they're not exactly geodatabase-ready... but interesting subject matter nonetheless.
Excerpt from the September 1933 issue of "Popular Science".
I pulled the article clip at left from the blog Modern Mechanix, which reprints items from old Popular Science magazines. Pretty cool, if a bit lacking in political correctness.
I wonder about the claim that the "eskimo" had "never before seen a map." Perhaps not a paper map-- but as you'll see below, there are other options.
In English, the caption reads: "Kuniit's three wooden (tree) maps show the journey from Sermiligaaq to Kangertittivatsiaq. Map to the right shows the islands along the coast, while the map in the middle shows the mainland and is read from one side of the block around to the other. Map to the left shows the peninsula between the fjords Sermiligaaq and Kangertivartikajik." From "Topografisk Atlas Grønland", published by Det Kongeglige Danske Geografiske Selskab, 2000 (pg 171).
At left, a closer look at the maps. Apparently they were "discovered" in 1880 by a Danish explorer named Gustav Holm, who was leading an expedition to the Ammassalik coast of eastern Greenland. I'm not sure if similar maps exist for the west coast (although the carved map featured in the Popular Science article above is from the west coast.)
I'm especially enamored with the fact that the maps are meant to be read up one side and down the other. Who needs a north arrow?? Not these guys. Very efficient use of space that I may employ in the near future.
From some accounts I've read (source: general googling), it also seems these maps were carved more to be felt than actually read-- which does seem quite practical for kayak or boat travel in potential darkness.
If you'd like to find out more, I believe all of this is properly and academically chronicled in The History of Cartography, Volume 2, Book 3: Cartography in the Traditional African, American, Arctic, Australian, and Pacific Societies. A nice beach read for a lazy summer afternoon.
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