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Countries that have preoccupied Americans the most since 1900
- sgt101 8y agoThis is interesting more for what picking one country per month hides than what it reveals; the winner takes all approach submerges emerging trends and informative outliers and leads to abrupt phase change like artefacts in the visualisation - suddenly it's all about Russia, suddenly it's all about China....
- Nicholas_C 8y agoIt would be a cool feature if one could flip to the second or third most mentioned. Perhaps a different visualization of this data would be beneficial.
- adavis32 8y agoAnother cool feature would be if you could click on a cell in the infographic and see the top headlines for that month. For example, what happened in Nicaragua in Jan of 1928, or in Laos in 1961?
- Emma_Goldman 8y agoA few things which I found of note: 1. The blanket of Union Jacks, especially in the first half of the 20th century. 2. The impact of the Korean War clearly pales in comparison to the impact of Vietnam. 3. If you didn't know better, it would look like the US and China were at war. 4. France in 1926-27. I'm not sure what happened in France of international significance then? The bombing of Damascus?
- trevyn 8y ago3. And judging by history, it’s not looking so good for China!
- geowwy 8y agoNope, and I’m guessing this is the main reason for China’s Belt and Road project. Their reliance on maritime trade puts them at the mercy of the US navy.
- petercooper 8y ago4. The French were having (prolonged) issues with some of their colonies around this time, such as in Morocco and the Great Syrian Revolt - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Syrian_Revolt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Syrian_Revolt It would be neat to extend this visualization into clicking through to see which headlines/stories influenced the choice.
- ygra 8y agoThere is a “show headlines” button.
- why_only_15 8y agoWhere? I can't find it
- adventured 8y ago> France in 1926-27 Charles Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget airfield in 1927, which might explain the mentions in the last half of that year.
- oxymoran 8y agoThe US and China are at war. Economic war. Cyber war. The Cold War never really ended, the players and the venues just shifted.
- daeken 8y ago> The Cold War never really ended, the players and the venues just shifted. That makes a good soundbite, but I think that changing the players and venues means it's a different war.
- KineticLensman 8y ago> changing the players and venues means it's a different war The war of Theseus? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus)
- aristophenes 8y agoThis isn't really true. China and the United States, since after the Vietnam war until very very recently, have basically been allies. The United States has gone out of its way to support China's economic growth. I think the idea is, when they opened up, that they would transform into a democracy as they became prosperous, which was basically happening, until Xi took over. Unfortunately, I don't think the population of either countries see things this way, and stoking the hatred is politically expedient in both countries. It's really too bad.
- suming 8y agosuper nit: the flag used for China before 1949 is incorrect. The PRC (People's Republic of China) didn't rule China until 1949. From 1912-1949 the flag of ROC (Republic of China) should be used. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_(1912–1949) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_(1912–1949...
- angara 8y agoHistorically inaccurate flags are used for the Soviet Union, Germany pre-1949, and Libya as well. It seems the creator chose to use the modern flag in all cases for consistency.
- aw3c2 8y agoFun idea but as someone from a country that has changed shape and occupation quite a bit last century (we also changed flags quite a bit) I find it a bit low on meat. It is conflating words or names with countries while doing a oh-so typical "let's drop lots of data into algorithms and visualize the result" dataviz for grabbing internet attention.
- aerovistae 8y agoIf you’re going to be dismissive and somewhat pompous, You could at least point out specifics of what you see wrong with this and how you would’ve done it differently or liked to have seen it done differently. At least that way people could engage with you beyond down voting you. Personally I think this visualization is quite neat. Sorry.
- FeteCommuniste 8y agoPutting Russia and the Soviet Union under the same flag is the obvious one.
- imhoguy 8y ago"...Through the Eyes of the US" they mean the same.
- maire 8y agoA lot of times this is done for continuity of the data not for political ignorance. If you look at gapminder.org they use modern countries so that you can track data over time. Gapminder goes back to 1800 before Germany existed - yet they still call it Germany. Gapminder was originally Swedish although it is now owned by Google.
- buboard 8y agomaybe it would be fun as an interactive map of locations instead
- metaphor 8y agoWhy is 1964 empty? JFK was assassinated in November the year before, and LBJ took the con. Was the US simply distracted by its own domestic realignment?
- brownbat 8y agoPer footer, there's an issue with the API so there's no data that year or for parts of 1978.
- metaphor 8y agoMissed that tidbit. Thanks for pointing to it.
- masonic 8y agoThe Civil Rights Act was far more important. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964
- Santosh83 8y agoAs someone from India it is probably a good thing that the US has seemingly not had us in mind at almost any point during the last 100 or so years, except for a brief period when we conducted some nuclear tests during 1998(?)... /s
- enitihas 8y agoAlso during the Nuclear deal in the end of 2008
- jogjayr 8y agoI would think the November 26 attacks were responsible for the spike in November and December of 2008. I didn't even think of the nuclear deal.
- rohit2412 8y agoYeah, I don't think any Indian even remember the nuclear deal, let alone the date. The terrorist attack is however entrenched in memory
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- pizza 8y agoWonder how it would change if e.g. mentions of Soviets had flag of USSR rather than Russia, etc.
- gpvos 8y agoIt would just split and dilute the mentions of the Soviets/Russia during the USSR's existence. While it existed, Russia and the USSR were pretty much synonymous.
- bmurray7jhu 8y agoI don't think Russian SSR and the USSR were synonymous terms for anything but for informal colloquial usage. The Russian SSR had only 51% of the population and 77% of the land of the Soviet Union.[1] Both the Belyrussian SSR and Ukrainian SSR were United Nations members states and constituent states of the Soviet Union.[2] After the breakup of the Soviet Union, some scholars have referred to Russian Federation as a rump state.[3] [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republics_of_the_Soviet_Union https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republics_of_the_Soviet_Unio... [2] https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/506/why-did-the-soviet-union-get-3-seats-in-the-un https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/506/why-did-the-... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rump_state https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rump_state
- Armisael16 8y agoDo you think the nytimes was respecting that difference? Nothing else really matters for this.
- eponeponepon 8y agoI think the previous poster's point was precisely about the vernacular - don't forget the flags in the articles derive from news headlines, of which the vast preponderance are very much expressed in the vernacular. Speaking for myself, growing up in the 80s, I definitely wasn't completely aware that Russia and the USSR were separate concepts, probably until the latter's break-up.
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- blauditore 8y agoWhy was Germany not more prominent during WWII (but apparently during WWI)?
- lordnacho 8y agoMy guess is there were a lot of articles about supporting the British, especially economically. With WWI the British were still the preeminent economic power.
- Fnoord 8y agoThe main threat came from the west (Japan). Especially after Pearl Harbour. Before that, the US was neutral, officially. [1] In the beginning of WWII (not sure exactly till which years but at least 39-41), the US only fought in Europe via pilots (the UK greatly lacked pilots), and transport boats. The ground troops only arrived before D-Day at which point the US did get [more] involved in the WWII in Europe. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrality_Acts_of_the_1930s#End_of_neutrality_policy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrality_Acts_of_the_1930s#E...
- Santosh83 8y agoBecause as I understand it, the US was largely aloof until Germany started pursuing atomic weapons and even then the Manhattan Project was done very secretively. So until Hitler started incarcerating millions of people and threatened all out war on Europe, the US wasn't really bothered all that much. So naturally Germany hits the headlines for the final 2 years of the war, and then Japan for a year because Pearl Harbour and Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings.
- PavlovsCat 8y ago> until Hitler started incarcerating millions of people and threatened all out war on Europe, the US wasn't really bothered all that much If by US you mean the public, many in the public did care, insofar they were aware. Generally not enough to want refugees in their country, but they still wanted to see the atrocities of the Nazis condemned by their government more than they were. But if by US you mean the US government, parts of it were bothered enough to block reports, at the very least: https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/main https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/ma... > In early 1943, US State Department officials blocked reports about the mass murder of Jews from reaching the United States. Some at the State Department wanted to avoid any increase in public pressure to aid Jews and thought that if the American people did not have information about the atrocities, they would not protest. [..] > In November 1943, a group of congressmen, influenced by activist Peter Bergson, introduced bipartisan resolutions in the House of Representatives and Senate calling for President Roosevelt to create a government commission to rescue Europe’s Jews. In secret testimony before Congress, Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long declared that the State Department already had admitted 580,000 refugees, a claim soon publicly proven false. > At the same time, US Treasury Department staff investigated the State Department’s delays and obstruction in sending relief into Europe to aid Jewish refugees. They discovered that State Department officials had deliberately suppressed reports about the murder of Jews. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. agreed to present their findings to President Roosevelt. > As a result of Treasury’s efforts, Roosevelt signed an executive order on January 22, 1944, establishing the War Refugee Board. It was charged with the rescue and relief of victims of Nazi oppression as long as it did not interfere with the war effort.
- mrobot 8y agoThis is really interesting. I would be interested in seeing a visualization of just China by headline count, for the time it has been in mind, 2009 to present, as it seems to have picked up significantly in the last year or so.
- lordnacho 8y agoWhat's interesting is if you did this for just about any other country, there would be a wall of star spangled banners. If you ever travel outside the US, you inevitably hear about what the US is doing, what they're discussing, who the important people are, etc. The reverse is not true: - Everyone outside the US knows the top US politicians. You even know what issues they are discussing, like gun control and healthcare. - You'll know the names of the states. How many other foreign countries do you know the subdivisions of? - You might also hear about the US sports leagues. - You know what movies are big in the US. You know what songs are popular.
- A2017U1 8y agoOne little thing my American expat friends always find strange: maps are centered "wrong". As in the US is located at the top left and Asia is on the right. I'm quite sure this is the world standard map, but apparently many grew up only with one that has the states centered.
- kerng 8y agoThere isn't a standard map I'd say. Wherever you go, the "home continent" is typically centered. I was (naively) surprised the first time I went to USA long time ago and saw maps that had the Americas in the middle - but thinking about it, it made sense.
- aristophenes 8y agoI'm confused, I grew up in the USA and for global maps the US was never centered. It was always on the left, like every map here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Maps_of_the_world https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Maps_of_the_world , and Africa is in the middle. If the Americas were centered on a world map you'd have to cut Asia in half, with it being on both the far left and right. It makes a lot more sense to make the split in the middle of the Pacific ocean and that's how I've always seen it done, I can't even picture a world map with the Americas in the middle. Is this a misunderstanding?
- mariojv 8y agoI was surprised that the Korean War barely stood out compared to most other conflicts (at least, if you're only looking for a Korean flag). There are indications of changes like Chinese involvement in late 1950, but I think it'd be hard to pick out the start date if you weren't sure of the decade. Compare that to Kosovo for example, where there's at least roughly half a year of prominence. One other factor that stood out to me was that it seems like there are more countries popping up from the mid 70s to the 90s, then it flips back to the previous pattern of a handful of countries dominating the picture (Iraq, then China). It's a very interesting visualization, thanks for sharing!
- pessimizer 8y agoIt's because it was an early undeclared war authorized by proxy. The only time it dominates the news is when it is "over" which reads to me as a heavy government push to use a "victory" as a retroactive justification for a war that was never directly approved by US citizens or their representatives. Now, this is how all wars are done, but then, it generally wasn't the case. Probably the only lasting legacy of the Korean War in the US to people who weren't directly involved is the meme of "brainwashing" and its permanent association with Communist Asians due the Lifton book[1] which ironically popularized both the idea of the "thought-terminating cliche" and the throught-terminating cliche of "brainwashing." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Reform_and_the_Psychology_of_Totalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Reform_and_the_Psychol...
- kodablah 8y ago> I was surprised that the Korean War barely stood out compared to most other conflicts Especially with regards to more controversial conflicts, this says more about what NYT chooses to drive. I'd argue in many cases they attempt to deliver narratives instead of reacting on them.
- peter303 8y agoYou need three different flags for China: (1) Ching dragon flag until 1911, (2) Taiwan sun flag until 1948 and (3) red Communist flag thereafter.
- norrius 8y agoI think generally having time-accurate flags and names would greatly improve the look of the chart. It is just weird having modern flags for the Axis countries in WW2, white-blue-red for the USSR (that's not even the Russian flag at the time), and so on.
- lifeformed 8y agoWhat's the deal with Japan in 2002? I don't recall any Japanese events then, it was all War on Terror stuff.
- mckee1 8y agoPossibly the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Japan/South Korea that year.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- SamReidHughes 8y agoOne headline from 1913 was talking about New England.
- slilo 8y agoNo headlines on revolution in Russia in 1917?
- coding123 8y agoOdd I would have thought Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia would have taken October-December. At least that's all I think about the world outside of the usual US stuff.
- giardini 8y agoFar too noisy! A simple line chart (each line labelled with the country) versus year would have been far better.
- porphyrogene 8y agoA line chart would forgo the act of scrolling which would eliminate the narrative feel of the graphic (scrolling through time to see what happened next). Considering that the content of the graphic is somewhat complex I think the "noise" serves to represent the data in the clearest possible way (representing countries by their flags) while establishing visual fields that represent relevant conclusions (the long-term preoccupation with a single foreign country). If this had been a simple line chart not only would the data need to be different (showing comprehensive amounts for each year rather than one or two top values) but it would be visually bland. The informational margins and somewhat infotainment-esque color variety are perfectly appropriate for this graphic. A more studious design would betray its content for something more quantitatively robust.
- adavis32 8y agoI like the infographic, but scrolling is an imprecise and annoying way to select a year to see additional information. There were quite a few years which I couldn't get the scrolling to stop at. Web designers: please don't mimic this technique.
- oaiey 8y agoA graph for the decline of the British Empire. These Brexit fans still believe they can revert it.
- deehouie 8y agoThis is a wonderful illustration of American obsession over the years. Back in the 1990s, Japan was the target. Articles attacking Japan appears on NYTimes and the like daily. The accusation was Japan used all these unfair trade practices to protect its industries, unwilling to open its market to US companies, etc. Then after a while, these criticism disappeared. Has Japan changed much since? Apparently not. Now the target is China. Which makes me wonder how much of this avalanche of attack on China is driven by a insidious political agenda.
- wolco 8y agoWonder what the 1900ish single Canadian flag was about.
- SL61 8y agoLooking through the Wikipedia pages for June 1910, it looks like quite a bit was happening in the US. Oklahoma chose its capital, O. Henry died, statehood was given to two states, and Halley's Comet made a visit. Newspapers might have been preoccupied with domestic issues. Other than Diaz winning yet another election in Mexico, it doesn't look like much was going on internationally. Goldwin Smith, who appears to have been very well known at the time with comments on American politics, died that month. He lived in Canada. A few front page headlines about his death might have been enough to put Canada on the chart, given the conditions.
- alexgia 8y agoI am surprised does not include 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt.