1894 Prevailing Religions of the World and Progress of Evangelization
DESCRIPTION
This color-coded evangelical world map printed on waxed linen is a propagandistic artifact from the late nineteenth century which divides the globe according to perceptions of each region’s religiosity. It was devised to represent the ‘progress’ of protestant Christian evangelization throughout the world.
The presumed religiosity of each region is represented by its color as designated in the pyramid-shaped legend at the bottom center of the map, which also lists the approximate number of adherents to each religion. The legend is pyramid in form with pink denoting areas where Greek and/or Oriental (presumably Orthodox Christianity) are predominant. Red is next, and is used for Roman Catholic-dominated regions. Green signifies Islam, called Mohammedan by the author.
Pagan regions are colored in brown and Heathen in beige. Finally, yellow is used to denote protestant Christian regions. Most of Australia, Siberia and what is now Alaska are left uncolored. Judaism is not represented on the map. Rather, a small black rectangle in the legend contains the word Jews. Areas being proselytized by protestant missionaries are denoted by small gold stars.
CONDITION
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