Not for navigational purposes
When I moved into my new apartment back in August, I needed a new shower curtain. When I saw the world map one, I decided that would work nicely. However, over the next few months, I began to notice a few ways in which this map was of a rather poor quality. Here is Europe:
Now, it would be possible to color the map with only four colors or just five if you want to use light blue for water only, but this map uses ten different colors for countries. One would think that allowing for this many colors could eliminate border confusion, but it is not so. For example, observe that for some reason France and Spain are both colored yellow, and their border (and the country of Andorra) is not specified. Other neighboring countries that are colored the same include Brazil and Venezuela (yellow), Uganda and Tanzania (yellow), India and Nepal (yellow), Germany and Austria (orange), Zaire* and Burundi (orange), Senegal and Guinea (green), and Belize and Honduras (orange). This last one is more disturbing since in reality, Belize and Honduras do not actually share a border. Furthermore, Niger and two of its neighboring countries--Libya and Benin--are all three colored yellow.
Even stranger is that the Czech Republic and the non-landlocked Bosnia and Herzegovina are both colored with the same light blue used for water.
Also, Bhutan is the only country I could find colored with light green, but this is enough to distinguish it from neighboring China, which is dark green. Why Italy is light pink but neighbors Switzerland and Slovenia are dark pink, I do not understand.
Now turn your attention to the British Isles. The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland are both colored light pink. Northern Ireland, however, is orange. This may make the Protestant residents of Northern Ireland happy, but the territory should really be shaded the same as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
And for some reason, the island of Corsica is pink for Italy instead of the correct yellow for France.
The color light brown is used for only five territories: Luxembourg (unlabeled), Slovakia, Croatia, the Bahamas, and this unlabeled area near the Pakistan-India-China intersection. Given the location of this place, my immediate thought was that it was Kashmir, but given the way China and Pakistan touch, the map makers have given the Indian administered state of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan and used the brown to indicate Aksai Chin, a region administered by China but claimed by India.
Also partially visible in the Europe photo is how Saudi Arabia is simply labeled "Saudi" with the "Arabia" part slightly elevated and positioned over what is actually the United Arab Emirates.
Now, let's turn our attention to North America:
The Island of Newfoundland became part of Canada in 1949, but apparently this information has not yet reached the colorers of this map. But Labrador is colored as part of Canada, and so this makes this interpretation more problematical.
And for some reason, Long Island is shaded pink, and not green like the rest of the United States. The nearest pink colored country is Haiti, although some islands in Alaska are also pink.
In South America, Chile is orange, and Argentina is green, except for the Argentinian part of Tierra del Fuego, which is pink. There is another island off the coast of Argentina that is pink, but it appears to be at the location of the Valdes Peninsula, which as its name implies is not an island. This is not the "Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)(adm. by UK, claimed by Argentina)," which are colored orange.
And in non-coloring related issues, due to the combination of the projection used for this map and the edges of the curtain, only about a third of New Zealand is visable, and Hawai`i is completely omitted.
*--I cannot find a date on this map, and so I do not know if it was made after Zaire became the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Now, it would be possible to color the map with only four colors or just five if you want to use light blue for water only, but this map uses ten different colors for countries. One would think that allowing for this many colors could eliminate border confusion, but it is not so. For example, observe that for some reason France and Spain are both colored yellow, and their border (and the country of Andorra) is not specified. Other neighboring countries that are colored the same include Brazil and Venezuela (yellow), Uganda and Tanzania (yellow), India and Nepal (yellow), Germany and Austria (orange), Zaire* and Burundi (orange), Senegal and Guinea (green), and Belize and Honduras (orange). This last one is more disturbing since in reality, Belize and Honduras do not actually share a border. Furthermore, Niger and two of its neighboring countries--Libya and Benin--are all three colored yellow.
Even stranger is that the Czech Republic and the non-landlocked Bosnia and Herzegovina are both colored with the same light blue used for water.
Also, Bhutan is the only country I could find colored with light green, but this is enough to distinguish it from neighboring China, which is dark green. Why Italy is light pink but neighbors Switzerland and Slovenia are dark pink, I do not understand.
Now turn your attention to the British Isles. The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland are both colored light pink. Northern Ireland, however, is orange. This may make the Protestant residents of Northern Ireland happy, but the territory should really be shaded the same as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
And for some reason, the island of Corsica is pink for Italy instead of the correct yellow for France.
The color light brown is used for only five territories: Luxembourg (unlabeled), Slovakia, Croatia, the Bahamas, and this unlabeled area near the Pakistan-India-China intersection. Given the location of this place, my immediate thought was that it was Kashmir, but given the way China and Pakistan touch, the map makers have given the Indian administered state of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan and used the brown to indicate Aksai Chin, a region administered by China but claimed by India.
Also partially visible in the Europe photo is how Saudi Arabia is simply labeled "Saudi" with the "Arabia" part slightly elevated and positioned over what is actually the United Arab Emirates.
Now, let's turn our attention to North America:
The Island of Newfoundland became part of Canada in 1949, but apparently this information has not yet reached the colorers of this map. But Labrador is colored as part of Canada, and so this makes this interpretation more problematical.
And for some reason, Long Island is shaded pink, and not green like the rest of the United States. The nearest pink colored country is Haiti, although some islands in Alaska are also pink.
In South America, Chile is orange, and Argentina is green, except for the Argentinian part of Tierra del Fuego, which is pink. There is another island off the coast of Argentina that is pink, but it appears to be at the location of the Valdes Peninsula, which as its name implies is not an island. This is not the "Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)(adm. by UK, claimed by Argentina)," which are colored orange.
And in non-coloring related issues, due to the combination of the projection used for this map and the edges of the curtain, only about a third of New Zealand is visable, and Hawai`i is completely omitted.
*--I cannot find a date on this map, and so I do not know if it was made after Zaire became the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
