What's Your Map?

In this episode we have a roar-some treat: our intrepid host Jerry Brotton journeys to the legendary Barbaric Archipelago with best-selling children's author and illustrator Cressida Cowell. Cressida’s chosen map shows the landscape she created for her acclaimed children’s series, How to Train Your Dragon (2009-2015), which charts the adventures of the young Viking, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III a...

In this episode, Jerry meets master navigator, sailing expert and award-winning author David Barrie. Together, they discuss a British Admiralty chart of the North Atlantic Ocean that tracks David’s incredible 1973 Transatlantic voyage aboard a 35-foot yacht named Sæcwen, from Halifax in Nova Scotia east across the Ocean to Falmouth in Cornwall, UK We learn about David’s fascination with celestial...

In this episode, Jerry meets master craftsperson, globemaker and conservator Jonathan Wright. Jonathan brings with him a twelve-inch celestial globe produced by Scottish firm James Kirkwood & Sons from 1810. For Jonathan, this globe marks a significant career milestone: it was the first one he ever restored. In his discussion with Jerry, we hear about some of the intricate conservation methods...

Jerry meets Bill Rankin, a cartographer, author and Professor of History at Yale University. In this episode of What’s Your Map? they discuss two fascinating infographic maps that feature in Bill’s latest book Radical Cartography: What Maps Tell Us About Who We Are (2025).  Radical cartography uses the method of mapmaking as a tool to challenge and educate on social, cultural, and political affair...

In this episode, Jerry speaks with Dr. Rohini Rai, a sociologist of race, ethnicity, and migration, and lecturer at Brunel University in London. She is also the co-founder of the Critical Himalayan Collective, a scholarly, activist network focused on reimagining Eastern Himalayan studies through Indigenous knowledge, art, and critical dialogue. Rohini shares a map from the Royal Geographical Socie...

This week, Jerry meets Ross Perlin, a linguist, writer, and translator focused on exploring and supporting linguistic diversity. Ross is the co-director of the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), a non-profit organisation dedicated to documenting Indigenous, minority, and endangered languages, and supporting a mosaic of languages in New York City - Lenapehoking and beyond. Ross shares an incredibl...

This week, Jerry meets Dr. Richard A. Pegg, the Director and Curator of Asian Art at the MacLean Collection, Asian map aficionado, and proud owner of Blue China Map shoes!  The MacLean Collection is an astonishing private collection of Asian art and global cartography. Based in Chicago, it is home to over 5,000 historic artefacts and more than 35,000 maps. In this episode, Richard and Jerry discus...

In this episode of WHAT’S YOUR MAP? we are transported to the wild mountains of Southern Norway as Jerry speaks with adventurer, climber, and trained nurse Cecilie Skog. An extremely accomplished explorer, Cecilie has climbed all seven of the world's tallest mountains, trekked unsupported across Antarctica, and skied to the North Pole!  In this intimate conversation, Cecilie guides us through an a...

The British Podcast Awards GOLD winning podcast returns on March 25th! From historians, scientists and writers to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. Join award-winning expert Professor Jerry Brotton, as in each episode he invites a guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations,...

In this episode, Jerry meets with acclaimed nature and travel writer Michaela Vieser. The focus of their conversation is an interactive map that charts 98 distinct sounds and silences from around the globe.  The creation of this geographical sound archive is connected to her new book co-written with Isaac Yuen, The Sound Atlas: A Guide to Strange Sounds Across Landscapes and Imagination. From the...

In this episode, Jerry meets with Dr. Jago Cooper to examine a map of an ancient cave network on Isla de Mona in the Caribbean Sea. The map pinpoints the locations of markings that depict Indigenous beliefs and also trace 500 years of cross-cultural encounters.  Jago is the Director of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, a world class art museum based in Norwich with a unique perspective on how...

In this episode, Jerry speaks with the illustrious Barbara A. Bond, the former cartographic researcher in the UK’s Ministry of Defence. Together, they pour over an important but unassuming silk escape map of Danzig (Gdansk) port from World War II. What information is presented on the map, and what has been intentionally excluded? More importantly, how did this map end up in the hands of a Prisoner...

In this second live episode from the British Library, Jerry speaks to explorer and Chief Scout Dwayne Fields, who is accompanied by Head of the Scout Heritage Collection, Caroline Pantling. They shine a spotlight on the innovative, hand-drawn maps of the Scout movement founder Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell (1857-1941), and talk about the importance of imagination and adventure. The maps t...

In this special live episode at the British Library, Jerry speaks to celebrated geographer, author, broadcaster and former President of the Royal Geographical Society, Nicholas Crane. They discuss the discreet War Department takeover of an area of the Wiltshire countryside for British Armed Forces training, and the Military Manoeuvres Act of 1872 as demarcated on James Wyld's map of Salisbury Plai...

In this episode, Jerry Brotton meets Dr. Animesh Sinha from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders). Animesh is an infectious diseases specialist who has spent his career caring for people in remote regions with HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and hepatitis.  Animesh is the principal investigator in a project named Zero TB where his team are using GIS data and maps to treat, and hopefull...

In this episode, Jerry takes another excursion to meet with Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) and English visual artist, Hannah Claus.  Hannah is in London exhibiting at the High Commission of Canada in the U.K. as part of their commitment to show work by Indigenous Canadian artists. Her body of work titled tsi iotnekahtentiónhatie - éntie nonkwá:ti [where the waters flow - south shore] tells the story of t...

In the first episode of Season 4, our host Jerry Brotton finds himself at one of the world's largest and most active exploration-focused institutions: the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in London. He meets with Cartographic Collections Manager Dr. Katie Parker to pore over a mid-sixteenth century treasure that both the RGS and The Sunderland Collection are privileged to own an example of.  Produ...

From historians, scientists and writers to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. Join award-winning expert Professor Jerry Brotton, as in each episode he invites a guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it. So if you’re fascinated by history, art, advent...

Jerry journeys to the Arctic polar region with Dr Djoeke van Netten from the University of Amsterdam, following the attempts by Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz and his crew to reach China via the northeast passage. Djoeke explains the backstory of the Dutch trade missions that took place in 1594, 1595, and 1596 and how the 1596 mission was stranded in Novaya Zemlya [an island chain in present day...

Jerry interviews Melbourne based artist-cartographer Anton Thomas, who discusses his latest project: a meticulously hand-drawn world map titled "Wild World." Wild World centres the animal kingdom, showcasing over 1,600 animals across a world without national borders. This intricate artwork emerged from Anton’s deep-rooted passion for mapping, which reaches back to his childhood. It also reflects h...

Jerry and University of Denver Professor Susan Schulten delve into the groundbreaking work of Richard Edes Harrison, an artist cartographer whose innovative mapping style emerged in the tumultuous early 20th century, particularly during the lead-up to World War II.  They discuss two of Harrison’s maps published in Fortune magazine, the business magazine founded by Henry Luce in 1929. Harrison’s ma...

Neuroscientist and Harvard Professor Jeff Lichtman walks Jerry through his astonishing work mapping the human brain. In 2024, with the help of Google Research, Jeff’s team developed the most detailed map of a human brain sample ever created, producing 1,400 TB of data from a sample the size of a pinhead.  Jeff also talks about how he and Harvard biologist Dr Joshua Sanes pioneered the Brainbow pro...

In this episode, Jerry visits the Library of Congress in Washington DC to meet senior librarian Iris Taylor, who has nearly five decades of experience in the map department. Iris shows Jerry a series of beautiful pictorial maps, created in the 1940s by the pioneering geographical storyteller Louise E. Jefferson. In particular, she highlights a map of ‘Americans of Negro Lineage’ from 1946. This ma...

Welcome to What’s Your Map? In this episode, Jerry speaks to Elizabeth Hogan, a marine biologist, Programme Director at the National Geographic Society, and a passionate advocate for marine conservation.  Having spent over 15 years dedicated to protecting marine ecosystems, Elizabeth shares her experience while discussing a unique map that reorients our understanding of the world's geography.. She...

From historians, scientists and writers to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. Join award-winning expert Professor Jerry Brotton, as in each episode he invites a guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it. So if you’re fascinated by history, art, advent...