This map is much more significant than it may appear at first glance. It was created by Alexandre Jean-Baptiste in 1836 to show the origin of all the prostitutes who had been registered between 1816 and 1831 at police stations in Paris.
The second half of the 19th century is commonly considered the golden age of statistical data representation, and this is an example of its beginnings. The map shows all French departments marked with different colour intensities depending on the number of women engaged in prostitution who were born in each one.
The reason why this map can be considered propagandistic or persuasive is because of the deliberate use of colour intensity. The table on the left shows the different numbers for each department, but the author leaves only the one department from which no prostitutes come uncoloured. With this decision, the map appears completely marked, as if the origin of prostitution in Paris were a matter for rural France, when in fact more than half originate in Paris and its surroundings.
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