Guess the map 16: No need for that latitude!

[amadeus]

Quantity of sulfur deposits?

Edit: well, sulfur may be a mineral used in metallurgy, but I'm just spitting out stuff that hot pools tend to have.

Okay, next hint: it is not a mineral.

 

[bene_legionary]

But it has something to do with hot pools?

 

[amadeus]

But it has something to do with hot pools?

No, it does not. Sorry if there was confusion, I meant “closest so far” from all of the guesses. I did not mean to imply it was something related directly to your answer.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Wildlife or plants?

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

Would there be a significant difference in the map 10 years ago and 10 years later than 1927?

 

[amadeus]

plants?

Closer still!

Would there be a significant difference in the map 10 years ago and 10 years later than 1927?

I’m not sure, honestly. I was looking for a unique map that was a different theme from the last one, and I came across this bit in an archive.

If I had to guess, my answer would be no, almost certainly not.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Old growth forests?

 

[amadeus]

Old growth forests?

That's not the exact answer but it's close enough!

The answer was: oak trees.

Decidedly different from Cold War Olympic politics.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I have nothing ready or even planned. Open floor for someone who is ready to go.

@amadeus I did like your summary of progress posts.

 

[amadeus]

@amadeus I did like your summary of progress posts.

I like to think of it as like a “20 questions” type thing, or as you mentioned before, What’s My Line, where the gradual elimination of incorrect responses would lead players eventually towards the correct answer.

And if I didn’t give any hints like that, we would be stuck on this map forever and it would get pretty boring! I think a week at most and then it gets really stale.

 

[bene_legionary]

I have another one that just came to mind. It might not be too difficult to guess, we'll see.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Maori population of the North Ilsland

 

[bene_legionary]

Not quite, but there is a large correlation.

 

[amadeus]

Changes in Maori land ownership?

 

[Samson]

Range of some animal?

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

Kiwi population?

 

[bene_legionary]

Changes in Maori land ownership?

Er, yes. That didn't take very long at all! After 1877, the Treaty of Waitangi was declared a "nullity" by the Supreme Court of New Zealand because the Maori were deemed too primitive and unorganised to be able to enter into an international treaty. That meant that the colonial government was able to take swaths of Māori land using New Zealand law. This map shows Māori land holdings in the North Island.

The full figure:

You might notice that land in the central west, by Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island, survived a little better than other areas of the North Island (except the East Coast perhaps). Up to 1881, this area was ruled by the Māori King and was effectively considered a separate jurisdiction from the rest of colonial New Zealand. After they were defeated in the Waikato War in 1863, the forces of the Māori King withdrew southwards. Still attempting to keep their Māori land free from (often shady) European purchasers and surveyors, the King took a map of New Zealand and put his hat on the area he now occupied, declaring no European was to enter that area. The Māori call this region the Land of the Hat; in English, the region is called the King Country.

The Māori population precipitously declined as a result of the loss of land, which is why I said there was a large correlation with Birdjaguar's guess.

Now maybe someone else has something better prepared?

 

[amadeus]

@Birdjaguar’s first guess helped a lot, but also seeing a lot of those colonial-era maps, especially in Africa, where the native land ownership was gradually (okay, rapidly) whittled down to make way for European settlers.

 

[amadeus]

Also, I don’t have a map and I have to go to work.

 

[bene_legionary]

Bump. Shall I have a third go?