Decolonial Atlas

Adding accurate Indigenous place names to articles is one way to help undo centuries of erasure. If any Wikipedia editors want to help and patiently educate fellow editors, get in touch and we’ll connect you with reliable Indigenous sources.

Editors who routinely revert additions of Indigenous place names may not be acting maliciously. They’re often unknowingly reinforcing one of the oldest misinformation campaigns, in which place names were weaponized to claim Indigenous land.

Wikipedia as a whole is incredibly accurate, but inaccuracies persist when it comes to Indigenous topics.

If "Wokepedia" were really run by "far-left activists," adding Indigenous place names (with tribal-published sources!) wouldn’t be such a struggle. Wikipedia is part of the digital commons. Elon can’t own it. No one can. Its editors reflect society as it is, and let’s be real: society isn’t woke.

That's correct. That name was offered to us by the Quapaw Tribal Museum for our map of Turtle Island. It's a loan translation of the English name.

Turtle Island Decolonized Turtle Island Decolonized: Mapping Indigenous Names across “North America” Indigenous place names carry the stories of the land and its people, reflecting the unbroken relationships bet…

are living and dynamic, none of these names are any less “authentic” than those passed down through continuous oral tradition. Embedded in all these names are ancestral words and worldviews. Above all, the map serves to illustrate that Indigenous peoples are still here. (4/4)

precolonial Bear Creek Mound which was the main Ishak landmark in the area until it was bulldozed in the 1960s. This name was one of many we would later publish in the Turtle Island map which were created in this way through careful consideration and research. Because Indigenous languages (3/4)

language revitalization and were working on publishing their 1st modern dictionary with the help of @davidvkaufman.bsky.social. So the Council decided to reconstruct a name based on their cultural relationship with the place, agreeing on Šakotayišol Nunuš “Bear Creek Town” to commemorate the (2/4)

Indigenous group resurrects what its people called Houston before the Europeans arrived | Houston Public Media Houston Matters talks with members of the Atakapa-Ishak Nation to learn about their culture and what their ancestors called Houston a few hundred years ago.

In 2016, we contacted the Atakapa-Ishak Tribal Council with a question - what do you call Houston? The answer was that the original name had been lost after generations of language suppression. The last fluent Ishakkoy speaker died in 1979. But in 2016, the tribe was in the midst of a (1/4)

Photo of a desk with a computer, two screens and the decolonial atlas map on the wall surrounded by a print titled return the empire to the wind in which North America burns and another print titled halocline showing an iceberg in the shape of a heart melting surrounded by birds and fish

Here it is in the wild in my office surrounded by two Justseeds prints!

Last year, we published the Turtle Island Decolonized map as a free download but saw the need for easier access. Thanks to Andrew, we've printed over 1000 maps w/ many large US school orders (eg Boston PS). Know a printer in Canada or Mexico who can help? Let’s connect!

We'll be posting on here more soon. In the mean time, for those who don't follow us on insta/mastadon/fb, we've partnered with @ecoandrewtrc.bsky.social to offer 19”x21” Turtle Island poster maps for $8+shipping @ mapcenter.com/store/p/turtle-island-decolonized. Free download available on our site

We're here now!