Tuesday, November 28, 2006

I have a new toy

My girlfriend, knowing my love of all things cartographic, gave me a free inflatable globe she found at work yesterday. It's neat, and I in no way want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but there are some minor hints that mark it as out of date:

-Guangzhou and Beijing are referred to as Canton and Peking.

-The Democratic Republic of Congo is referred to as Zaire.

-The Russian Federation does not appear, but the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics does.

All this amuses me, but I'd be interested if anyone knows when the Western media stopped referring to Beijing as Peking. Any clues?

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