Since the 19th century, the motif of an octopus on propaganda maps has represented the inhuman spread of evil, its tentacles grasping for land and power.
byAllison Meier
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Fred W. Rose, “Serio-Comic War Map For The Year 1877” (1877), published by G. W. Bacon & Co. two months after Russia attacked the Ottoman Empire in response to the Turkish massacre of Christian Bulgarians (represented by a skull) (courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
Caricaturist Fred W. Rose’s 1877 map published in the midst of the Russo-Turkish War shows Russiacreeping like an octopus across the globe, its tentacles grasping at land on all sides. While the other countries are illustrated as people, Russia is depicted as something alien and monstrous. The arresting visual began a trend of cartographic cephalopods, many of which feature inthe PJ Mode Collection at Cornell University Library.
Aspreviously covered on Hyperallergic, the PJ Mode Collection, donated to Cornellin 2014, focuses on “persuasive cartography,” orcartographic propaganda.Thesemaps from the 15th century to the present were designed to convey a certain point of view rather than anaccurate geography. Last month, around 500 mapswere added to the online collection, doubling the number of available images and descriptions. Rose’s map is among these additions, along with other graphics that employthe octopus.
S.P.K., “Confiance – ses amputations se poursuivent méthodiquement [Have Faith – The Systematic Amputations Are Continuing]” (1942), a propaganda poster from German-occupied France showing Winston Churchill as a giant octopus smoking a cigar (courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
Ashley Baynton-Williams in 2015’s The Curious Map Book, writes that Rose’s map is “the earliest known cartoon map of Russia to portray the country as an octopus” and that the “prevalence of the octopus motif in later maps suggests that the octopus also spoke to humanity’s primeval fears, evoking a terrifying and mysterious creaturefrom thedepths.” Later uses include aSeptember 7, 1904, cartoon mapin Puck magazine that shows the Standard Oil company strangling American state capitals and Congress, and a 1940spropaganda posterfrom German-occupied France with Winston Churchill as a grotesqueoctopus smoking a cigar, his bleeding appendages symbolizing British advances and defeats. Sometimes the map octopus is blubbery, such ason a1904 anti-Russian map from Japan, where its armsseem to slowly and steadily grow; other times it is thin and agile, like the“red octopus” representing the Soviet Union on a 1980 pamphlet from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. In all cases, its shape exudesa hungry grasp for power, and some dark, unnatural force that threatens to cover the Earth.
In an article on the “Cartographic Land Octopus”at the Big Think,Frank Jacobswrites that the underwater animal is “a perfect emblem of evil spreading across a map: its ugly head is the centre of a malevolent intelligence, which is manipulating its obscene appendages to bring death and destruction to its surroundings.” In last year’sWar Map exhibition at London’s Map House,a copy of a 1944 map that features in thePJ Mode Collection was included. It showsa rising sun transformedinto a ravenous octopus emerging from the Japanese flag, its tentacles reaching around the East Indies to cling to the former Dutch Colonies. The image was printed about 10,0000 times for the London-based Netherlands government in exile, the repetition reinforcing the trope as a symbol of threatening invasion.
The octopus actually appeared on maps long before the 19th century, but asthe ominous kraken, a sea monster signaling the dangers of the unchartedoceans. Emerged from the waters and dragging its many-armed body overthe land, it retains that sense of unease and foreboding.
Patrick co*kayne Keely, “Indie Moet Vrij! Werkt en Vecht Ervoor! [The Indies Must Be Free! Work and Fight For It!]” (1944), showing Japan as an octopus with tentacles controlling the Dutch East Indies (courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
Kisaburō Ohara, “A Humorous Diplomatic Atlas of Europe and Asia” (1904), an anti-Russian map created by a Japanese student at Keio University during the Russo-Japanese War (courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
Unknown German creator, “Freiheit der Meere [Freedom of the Seas]” (1918), depicting Great Britain as an octopus threatening the “freedom of the seas” with its tentacles reaching to nearly 30 places allegedly colonized or attacked by the British Empire (courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
W. B. Northrop, “Landlordism Causes Unemployment” (1909), showing the octopus of “Landlordism” strangling London, although the map leaves the royal family’s estates out of its lands owned by the wealthy (courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
Louis Emile Manche, “De Dollarpoliep [The Dollar Octopus]” (1942), an anti-American propaganda poster created by the Nazis in the Netherlands, showing the United States as an octopus with tentacles encircling the Americas and reaching west into the Pacific and east into the Atlantic (courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
Nicolas Baladiez, “La ‘pieuvre britannique’ – L’Angleterre dans le nord de l’Ocean Indien [The British Octopus – England in the North Indian Ocean]” (1905), published in Journal des Voyages – Aventures de Terre et de Mer, showing the British Imperial “octopus” reaching to the Arabian peninsula and the horn of Africa (courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
Joseph Ferdinand Keppler, “Next!,” depicting Standard Oil as an octopus expanding across the United States, strangling state capitals and Congress (1904), published by Puck magazine (courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
Henry Mohr and Oliver Starr, “The Red Octopus: Complete reprints of a serialization detailing how, in the past two decades, the Soviet Union has made alarming gains in its drive for world domination” (1980), published by St. Louis Globe-Democrat(courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
Scott Johnson, “God and the Gorillas” (1936), illustrating an article by Dale Kramer for New Masses, with a caricature of Hearst journalist Arthur Brisbane as a giant octopus strangling cities like Seattle and San Antonio (courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
Maurice Neumont, “La Guerre est l’Industrie Nationale de la Prusse [War is the National Industry of Prussia]” (1917), a French propaganda poster mapping the growth in German armies over two centuries and its territorial expansion (courtesy Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library)
Browse more persuasive cartography from the PJ Mode Collection online at Cornell University Library.
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Allison Meier
Allison C. Meier is a former staff writer for Hyperallergic. Originally from Oklahoma, she has been covering visual culture and overlooked history for print and online media since 2006. She moonlights...More by Allison Meier
Allison Meier,
Well, you’ve done it again. I find the information and the design of the London landlord map of particular interest. The design is especially strong and engaging. I wonder how a similar map of the Trump/Kushner holdings in New York would compare.
Hardly a map, but an Octopus sculpture I https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d60a7e4b352b78344d3695f89da1ab5981ba668dbf260e69601701990acbbfbf.jpg did as a metaphor for William Randolph Hearst for all the difficulties he caused Sir Hubert Wilken’s 1931 attempt to reach the North Pole navigating under the Polar Ice Cap in a WW-1 submarine, “The Nautilus” in 1931
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1fd387c2a727f8f10a5be788204f9e4a46cb9cdf67a227b8218d509038242984.png The use of animals in cartography has a long pedigree – as have these wonderful persuasive and serio-comic style maps. Terrific collection. I decided to try my hand at one and use the Octopus metaphor for a map of Trump’s first few months in power. Except his red neck tie replaces the tentacles. Details here: http://cartonerd.blogspot.com/2017/03/trumps-ties.html
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