Is it true that on contour maps for Russian schoolchildren renamed the continents of North and South America?

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In September 2023, the statement about the output of contour maps in Russia, where the continents of the Western hemisphere were called the Anglo-Saxon and Latin America, was widely spread in social networks. We checked whether this is so.

September 23 post with photographs of a contour map collection Loose In his Telegram channel, political scientist Ekaterina Shulman (152,000 views at the time of writing this analysis). She reports that in this geography manual for the 10-11th grades of the Enlightenment publishing house North America was renamed Anglo-Saxon, and South to Latin. Also in the notebook there are allegedly “outlandish continents” foreign Europe and foreign Asia. “The era of great geographical closures,” the political scientist summed up.

Photos of cards were widely diverged into Telegram: they were published, in particular, channels "Live broadcast"(667,000 views),"Truthfulness"(197 000) and"Putin in Telegram"(192 000), as well as an adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko, who wrote (136,000): “They could immediately rename into“ friendly America ”and“ unfriendly America ”. Why is this dust in the eyes? " News notes on maps, from which it followed that this is the innovation of the Russian educational system, with reference to Schulman released the publication Astra, "New newspaper. Europe" And "Echo", And the column criticism of the term" Anglo-Saxon America "was published in"Moscow Komsomolets".

To begin with, we will determine the terms. North America and South America are two of the six continents, or continents existing on Earth. They Defined Definitely and exclusively from the point of view of physical geography. Within the framework of one or several continents, scientists, using socio-economic and cultural, in addition to physical characteristics, also Select Parts of the world (Europe and Asia in Eurasia), regions and subregions (the Middle East, Subsachara Africa), other groups of countries and territories (Balkans, Maghrist).

The term “Anglo-Saxon America” is not an innovation of 2023, along with the term Anglo-American, it is used in Russian school and university textbooks and atlases on socio-economic geography for more than ten years. Mentioning Anglo-Saxon America can be found at Sites-residents and in plans Lessons on the textbook issued by the publishing house "Education", the cards to which became the reason for disputes. Examples of using the term "Anglo-American" can detect in geographical atlases released in Russia in 2015 And even in 2013 year. Moreover, in world practice, he Designed To describe the countries of North America, whose inhabitants speak English, and their traditions go back to Northern Europe. Therefore, some countries of the Central and South America and the Caribbean (for example, Belize, Jamaica and Gayan), but not the French-speaking regions of Canada include. Definition "Anglo-Saxon America" ​​in Russian occasionally used In the 19th century, in English literature, it is practically Not used.

The mentioned terms in the studied “verified” Russian -speaking sources mainly used Like synonyms for designations Exclusively the United States and Canada, but not North America as a continent. However, in the training materials on the Russian Electronic School portal, these two countries are in the course of socio-economic geography still Combine The concept of "North America" ​​(sometimes clarifying - "English -speaking").

The fact that the map from the viral photography is called so to comply with the narrow definition of Anglo-Saxon America in Russian textbooks confirms its appearance: schoolchildren are invited to mark only the territories of the United States and Canada. At the same time, there are no cities designations partially depicted on the Mexico map, and English -speaking Belize, Jamaica and Barbados did not get on it at all.

Under Latin America in socio-economic geography implied The countries of the southern part of North America, the Caribbean basin and South America, where the Romanesque languages ​​(Spanish, Portuguese or French) dating back to Latin were adopted as official. Often to them Related Also English -speaking Belize and Gayan, as well as the Dutch -language Surinam. Judging by the designations of cities on the map under consideration, its authors considered Latin America some countries that were not related to it, in particular, already mentioned English-speaking Jamaica and the Bahamas (a mark on the latter for an unknown reason, was also as part of the Anglo-Saxon America assignment), as well as the former Dutch Antilles (Curasao, Sint-Marten, Sint-Marten, Sint-Marten, Sint-Marten, Sint-Marten Bonayre, Sint-Estaus and Saba and Aruba), where the main language is the Dutch and some of which Enters the kingdom of the Netherlands, and part has status special communities.

However, from the point of view of physical geography, the map of Latin America, depicted in the collection under discussion, is true-it covers both the South American mainland and part of the North American and the islands of the Caribbean.

It can be concluded that the cards that were dispersed through social networks are made with inaccuracies in the design, but there are no talk of any renaming North and South America - schoolchildren are offered to complete tasks that are related to regions formed according to cultural characteristics, and not with continents.

On one of the sites with ready -made homework, “verified” discovered tasks completed on contour maps, which “enlightenment” published no later than 2021 (at the same time on the scanned page With the table of contents the year of development of these cards, the 2017 is indicated at all, but their names could be changed in later reprints). Marking on these maps Exactly the same as on the viral, and the page with the task in the USA and Canada markedAs in the analyzed pictures of 2023: Anglo-Saxon America. That is, this term has been used in similar educational materials for several years.

It is incorrect to consider the innovation in the Russian school tradition and the terms “foreign Europe” and “foreign Asia”. IN textbooks And manuals, on sites with cheat sheets According to geography, these definitions have been used since the mid-1990s for designations a number of countries and territories of Eurasia. Both terms are ideological heritage Soviet geographical science, which appeared in 1950s years. Including, therefore, in some textbooks of the country of the former USSR they include in foreign Europe and foreign Asia, but in others it is not. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, these definitions are used mainly in the Russian school (rare references can also be found in Belarusian sources).

Thus, nobody renamed North and South America as continents in the Russian school program in geography. The notebooks with cards use, although atypical for world science, but relatively long ago existing in the Russian school course of socio-economic geography of the definition of Anglo-Saxon America, foreign Europe and foreign Asia. Judging by the available data, on the Enlightenment publishing house “Enlightenment” of the US and Canada, which are dispersed in social networks, are designated precisely as Anglo-Saxon America since at least 2021.

Update of September 29, 2023: The heading of the material has been changed, an introductory paragraph about the difference in the concepts of “continent / mainland”, “part of the world”, etc., made stylistic editing was added. A copy of the material before making changes is available by link.

Photo on the cover: Page of the contour maps of the publishing house "Education"

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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