Computer Atlas of Kenya

These maps, produced by D.R.F. Taylor in 1970 using a computer program called SYMAP, document the geography of British colonialism in Kenya. Because computers could efficiently produce many maps of uniform styles, they were useful for cartographers interested in making atlases that contained repetitive sheets. In Figure 3, areas with the lowest percentage of adult female Kenyans correspond closely to the so-called “White Highlands,” a racially segregated agricultural region that was legally restricted to white European settlement between 1902 and 1962. Such patterns are also visible below, in Figure 21, which depicts the low percentages of Africans living in the White Highlands who also grew up there. The seemingly neutral and impersonal data types of the computer map therefore capture a long history of power and injustice.