Cartogram

www.irri.org/gis/cartograms/cartograms.htm

This is a map known as a cartogram because it takes information and displays it on a "normal" map, or one that most people are use to encountering, bu than changes the area so that it is a more visual representation of how certain characteristics affect different areas. In this specific example, a Mercator Projection is taken and then has the statistics of poverty across the world applied to it, and then is "distorted" to show the percentages in area, not simply by shading, coloring, or patterns. I think that most bizarre part of this map is that, living in America, we are use to seeing the US as a huge country, however, in this map the United States is barely even visible. Although this is a reassuring thing, its a little hard to think about when referenced to places like India and China.