geography

Mapping Early Haitian History

By Paul Clammer

In 2016 I was in Cap-Haïtien, working on an update for my guidebook to Haiti. Mapping is a key part of writing travel guides, and I spend a lot of time physically locating places and dropping pins on Google Maps. My first visit to Cap-Haïtien as a travel writer was in 2007, so it's a familiar city to navigate, a fact made even easier since its streets still retain the grid system laid down by French invaders in the late 17th century.

On this visit to Cap-Haïtien, however, I had a second motive. I am currently doing research for a biography of the

On April 22nd, Governor Steve Beshear announced that nearly 1 in 10 Kentuckians (413,410) had enrolled in Kynect (Kentucky's state-based health benefit exchange).  Enrollment took place during the health exchange’s first open period, which ended on March 31.  Seventy-five percent of the enrollees were previously uninsured.   In response to the statistics released regarding Kynect, Beshear stated “From the beginning, I knew that Kynect would change the course of Kentucky’s history by helping hundreds of thousands of Kentucky families, and I’ve never wavered in my support.”

See the map of Kynect

Coal is a major resource in Kentucky and has been used for over 250 years.  Coal mining production (see map above) has decreased in parts of both the eastern and western coal fields of Kentucky over the past year. Of the counties that decreased, Harlan County saw the largest change in tonnage produced, a decrease of 2,443,634 tons, while Elliot County saw the largest percentage increase of 1,837% from 2012 (Kentucky Coal Facts).  This geographic issue highlights economic, historic, political, environmental, and cultural variability over space and time.

See the map of Kentucky Coal Production in

On Monday, December 9th, Governor Steve Beshear and Representative Hal Rogers spearheaded a summit in Pikeville, Kentucky, called Shaping Our Appalachia Region (SOAR). The purpose of the conference was to discuss Eastern Kentucky’s economic future.  The economic downturn in the region is commonly linked to the recent loss of jobs in the coal industry, but the issue has a longer history.  President Lyndon B. Johnson (US president from 1963-1969) visited Martin County, KY, and declared a “war on poverty.” As this interactive map indicates, poverty was widespread across the entire southeast in

A new map will be added each day by the Kentucky Geographic Alliance. Please join the conversation.  

Note: To see how GIS works, click and zoom on the Commonwealth Map to find your favorite PLACE in Kentucky

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Note: The following maps were created by the KGA to celebrate Geography Awareness Week:

Monday

Tornadoes recorded between 1950 and June.

Tuesday

Lost River Cave GIS project.

Wednesday

KY BBQ

Thursday

Oil and Gas Wells in Kentucky

The Kentucky Geographic Alliance (KGA) is a grassroots organization of educators supporting geographic education. They provide support services for P-12 teachers in the Commonwealth to enhance the geographic awareness of students. As a part of this initiative they send out Kentucky in the News once a month in which local news stories are related to geography for use in Kentucky classrooms. This is the blog for the KGA - we encourage H-Kentucky subscribers to comment and add to the conversation.