More amazing maps

The British Library Map Collection includes this amazing map:

North Sea map

They explain the controversy around this map:

… in the 1970s in Britain, suffering from the  Middle East oil embargo, with economic malaise and high unemployment, it was argued as such. There is a deep blue area on the map which curved around Norway on the map, signifying deeper water. It was argued by some that this ‘Norwegian Trench’ limited Norway’s continental shelf to the area within that trench. However, Norway’s eventual area of the North Sea got was far greater, encompassing the giant Esofisk oil field which is visible at the lower centre of the map. So desperate had Britain been to realise the benefits of the North Sea oil revenue that it ceded more to Norway just to avoid protracted negotiations. It was called by critics ‘the most generous present in English history’. 

 

 

 

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