A real world map of Brunei for a PhD Thesis

[KathleenHarry]

Hello.

I’m a PhD student at Charles Darwin University looking for someone to create a map based on another map for inclusion in my PhD thesis, on the causes and course of the Brunei Rebellion of 1962. The map I require would depict how the Brunei Empire shrank between 1841 and 1905 and I envision it to be a series of maps of Brunei as it decreased into what it is today. The original map is one map of Malaysian Borneo and Brunei, as they are now known, with sections patterned to indicate when they broke away from Brunei. It’s really confusing and busy, which is why I’d like a new map.

Subject
• I will provide a scanned copy of the map this new map will be based on

Style
• I really couldn’t say what sort of style I want. If you wanted to make it a simple line drawing, like the original map, I would accept that, as long as it looked nicer than the original (it’s rather confusing and unattractive, which is why I’d like a different map). If, on the other hand, you wanted a more ornate style, I’d accept that as well.
• Black and white would be better for me, to ease the printing process

Quality & Size
• Professional, as it will be printed in the final copies of my PhD thesis/dissertation
• No bigger than an A4 page
• Otherwise, I’m flexible

Time Constraints

I’d prefer to have it ready for inclusion in my thesis at the end of April, which is when the writing is currently scheduled to be finished. I might be able to extend the date for up to a month beyond that, depending on whether the writing takes longer than I expect and on how much other stuff needs to be done before I can contemplate printing.

Copyright

The artist will retain copyright of the map, I only need reproduction rights.

There is a remote possibility that the thesis will one day become a book, in which case the artist will be begged for permission to use the map again and we will negotiate a legal agreement regarding copyright. I really don’t expect this happen, but you never know.

Payment

Obviously, I’d prefer it if someone made this map for me for free, but I’m willing to pay for it if necessary.

Contact Details

I’m not yet able to receive Private Messages, so my email address is Kathleen --dot-- Harry --at-- students --dot-- cdu --dot-- edu --dot-- au

Thanks.

[jbgibson]

I wonder if you could get permission to use the existing series of maps at the WHKMLA Historical Atlas? They're pretty basic - is that the level of detail you want? Or maybe more importantly - do they portray the view of Brunei ownership that your paper covers? Way I understand it a lot of the Bruneian (is that a word?) suzereinity was rather theoretical.

I hope you realize that you just sent ten to a hundred people off on delightful rabbit trails of varying length, looking into Borneo history & mapping :-)...

[jbgibson]

Something like this hack look good enough?

BruneiSmMulti.gif

Of course a look at your source map would get me some better extents than random maps on the web show :-)...

[KathleenHarry]

Hi, JB.

Thanks for replying. I hope I did send people off chasing after Borneo's cartographic history, there can't be too many people interested in Borneo for my taste.

The first series of maps are okay, but I would want something more detailed and attractive looking than that.

Your 'hack' is actually pretty much what my original map shows, except clearer and more easy to comprehend. I'll get it scanned and put it up here in the next couple of days for comparison purposes.

The image in my head of what I want the map to look like is more... ornate and detailed than these examples. I'm not very good at describing things, but I guess it looks more like those maps you see in books about the history of cartography. Something that you can admire, but that still shows what I need it to show.

[KathleenHarry]

SCN_0002.pdf

This is a scan of the original map.

[KathleenHarry]

IMG_0004.JPG

And this is a photo of a map of northern Borneo I have on my wall that I think could be a good model for what I want, in terms of style.

[KathleenHarry]

The scan of the original map downloads as an Adobe pdf document, just so you know. I can take a photo of it and post that instead, if anyone particularly dislikes Adobe or pdf documents, or whatever. Let me know if that's what you want.

[Azélor]

Something that would look like #14 ? http://www.cartographersguild.com/re...tml#post238993

[KathleenHarry]

Hi, Azelor.

Thanks for replying. I looked at the map you suggested and it's nice enough, but not really what I'm looking for.

I've had a private message from someone who is interested, so I'll post here when I know what's going on definitely.

[jbgibson]

Kathleen's photo is a little blurry - at the Library of Congress the same map is a bit clearer:

CrockerBorneoMap.jpg

And a lovely map it is. The one shown with various dates that parts of Brunei went away is indeed a bit complex. It does have the virtue of being a snapshot of all the geographic details, with borders being the only historical variable. If one creates a series, the viewer kind of expects any details to match the borders. How far does that need to go? Does the adjoining territory's ownership and nomenclature need to show as current with the Brunei of the moment? Can enough city names be rustled up to fill each era the same? Is the topography significant? It looks on the nice map as if the 1861-1862 border with Sarawak nicely follows a ridgeline, which is a sensible boundary.

Azelor's pointer to Freodin's style test could be tuned to more closely match your example - if the border color tinting were more faded and pastel, and if the lettering were more toward copperplate-engraved script than typeset textbook fonts. But the purpose of your map is as with most maps - to convey information. Extraneous details for the purpose of looking good are okay, if they don't obscure the crucial info. What one will be able to shrink to 8.5 x 11, as multiple maps, is going to be a limited set of data, using mundane printing on plain paper. And to repeat each river, range, or label six to ten times over seems... inefficient.

If you have good data on the earliest state of affairs, maybe a clear layout would be a large top oldest half-of-Borneo, with the most detail, a middle collection of small silhouettes as Brunei shrinks, and a final-state at the bottom the same scale as the top, so the tiny extent of present-day Brunei has its full impact.

Your many-dates-on-one-map omits North Borneo - is it supportable to count it as Brunei till the Charles Lee Moses lease? Larger at first makes how-far-fallen even stronger :-). If that seems more of a change of administration, not of ownership, what subsequent or prior transfer is definitive enough to say no-longer-Brunei? Wasn't there some interesting difference of translation where the Brits' copy said "cede" and the Sultan's copy translated more as "lease"? So very ... squishy... compared to our western notions of crisp conquest or purchase :-).