Category: Background

From its founding in to the 1970s, the National Geographic Magazine portrayed other cultures through the lens of their own racism and developed nation biases, ignoring people of color and portraying “natives” as “exotics”, frequently as some type of “savage”.

And that is the conclusion of their own report back in 2018, not mere random accusations.

There’s more – to this day I am unable to view anything from NGS as a reputable source of information.

Maps all show biases, partially due to projecting a globe onto a flat map, but also due to decisions made on where to center a map, and even choices of color and territorial boundaries.

The percent of people who have traveled, from the U.S., and those who travel from other countries, is staggering.

For various reasons, I missed out on travel in my life and now aim to catch up. Whereas most travelers start young – with support from family, friends or study abroad programs, I am doing this as an older adult with no experience or travel support.