I did manage to find a couple maps of the world. Sadly, I found this on Wikipedia from 1897, although it is clearly marked:
My version of the world, seen in question 3, is not too different from this, although perhaps a little "rounder."
Here is another, from the 1700s, which shows how little they knew about North American at the time:
As we go further back, I found a fascinating early map, completed by Ptolemy before Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, again from Wikipedia:
I am glad to see that I am better informed then they are! Europe, Asia and Africa take up the entirety of the map. I found several more very, very old world maps from the late 1200s and on here, all of which are fascinating to see, although the detail is not nearly as good as the ones I have posted here.
A little more recently, here is a map complete with political information, from 1952:
I find it very interesting which countries are considered "important" enough to have their leaders displayed, and which are left blank. I admit I was surprised to see Canada completely blank!
2. Think of the projections you are most familiar with and, in critique mode, determine why that might be.
I am most familiar with fairly outdated (i.e. does not contain Nunavut) maps, which originate from my childhood. I can only speculate as to why I have not bothered to familiarize myself with the world as it is today. I know it's not a subject I've found particularly interesting, and I suppose it's because it does not affect me in a personal way, nor does it affect my family or friends - as far as I know.
3. (this is the trick part). Draw a map of the world with which you are familiar and one with which you are unfamiliar, and then see how close you are (in whatever projection)--or try the whole world if you wish. What does this exercise tell you about our knowledge? What nations do you know most geographically and culturally about? Least? What countries do you not know exist? How did they come into existence? How many countries in the subcontinent of Africa can you name and map? South America? Which areas of migration/diaspora can you identify? How did you come by this knowledge? And so on.
This is my map of the world. As you can probably see, it's not something I think about much, and it's quite obviously a subject I know little to nothing about. I know most about geographical locations closest to me, such as the United States, although that didn't stop me from forgetting Alaska on my map, and I forgot where Cuba is, etc. I hardly know much about Canada, either, given that I cannot draw any of its islands - I even forgot PEI! - although I did remember to draw Vancouver Island, at the very least.
I know nothing at all past the United Kingdom. The further south-east I go in the world, the less and less I know about it, i.e. culture, geographically, people, language. I could not tell you what languages people speak in South America, although I do know Portuguese is one of them. I know nothing about the various Chinese dialects. Although I guess I shouldn't be, I still find myself surprised at how uninformed I am. I feel like I was, perhaps, better informed when I was just learning geography in elementary school!
I recall when Becky brought in her map of the world, and we all made play-dough shapes based on flags, or symbols, of people and cultures around the world, and seeing the amount of diaspora from the United Kingdom, Japan, China, and countries I had not considered before, such as Brazil, was fascinating. She had with her a sheet of paper detailing who had gone where and when, which made it easier to visualize. Simply reading that Brazilians are coming to Canada does not give one an amount, which makes it clearer how many people are coming, what the percentage of the population are, etc.
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