Map Colors
Most maps printed before 1950 show the British Empire in pink and the French Union in green. Why is this?
———- from John Andrew and Marc Petrequin of The Internet
Before the invention of sunscreen in 1950, your typical Englishman in a tropical colony would turn bright pink in the noonday sun. The French did their share of colonizing countries near the equator, but their rich cuisine would often induce nausea in such a balmy climate. Consequently, both English and French colonials spent most of their time in bed, delirious. Map makers may have had to guess when it came to remote topography, but the color to use on each empire was common knowledge to both oppressor and oppressed.
Before the invention of sunscreen in 1950, your typical Englishman in a tropical colony would turn bright pink in the noonday sun. The French did their share of colonizing countries near the equator, but their rich cuisine would often induce nausea in such a balmy climate. Consequently, both English and French colonials spent most of their time in bed, delirious. Map makers may have had to guess when it came to remote topography, but the color to use on each empire was common knowledge to both oppressor and oppressed. 