ABSTRACT
Maps can play an obvious role in reinforcing or even constructing various forms of spatial identity, the most obvious being a sense of nation, but they also have a role in other forms of identity, from personal issues such as sexual orientation to 'virtual identities' as part of Internet communities. Yet a sense of national identity is the form most often associated with maps, and cartography certainly plays a part in the construction of this level of identification. This chapter examines and illustrates how maps play a role in forming or reaffirming identities and explains how this is achieved, from national atlases to parish maps. Maps within satirical graphics have a well-established history, with classic examples produced from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century caricaturists, epitomized by the work of James Gilray. However, it is with the advent of wide distribution print media, and more recently, electronic media, that the satirical graphics have become almost ubiquitous.
