This map, created by J. R. Silva «Star», was published in Lisbon in 1953.
This is a satirical map within the context of the Cold War, from Portugal's point of view. Portugal was a country under the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar, which had a very marked anti-communist stance.
On the map, Silva depicts Europe as if it were a circus, with the American continent on the left as spectators, and the different countries represented as animal figures. Through a fence, the author shows the division of the Iron Curtain, behind which Russia appears with a whip subjugating all the countries within its orbit. That same fence helps to show the harsh division of Germany, represented as a tiger that has lost its left leg (East Germany) and cannot get up.
In 1953, the spheres of influence of the United States and the Soviet Union were still being defined. Four years earlier, in 1949, NATO had been founded, with Portugal as a founding member, and a year later, in 1954, the Soviet Union requested its annexation, although this was rejected by the United States.
This work by Silva is clearly influenced by the satirical maps published during the early years of the First World War, such as this one by Louis Raemaekers, by Lucas Gräfe o Johnson, Riddle and Company.
Sources
- Humorous Map of Europe in 1953
- Metaphorical Maps Redux & Cold War Politics: the view from Portugal, 1953
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