McCormick’s Map of the World

A striking piece of promotional cartography from the Interwar Period.

The origins of some of the first large-scale international commercial operations began with the spice trade, giving the McCormick Company a broad pool of historical material to draw from in this pictorial promotional piece. A brightly colored political map of the world emphasizes the major lines of transportation on which the precious commodities travel. Text within each country notes what is grown and exported. The latest aviation and polar exploration routes are also noted, reflecting the contemporary interests of the audience and an effort to stay ‘modern.’ Illustrations of tea, spice, mustard seed, and vanilla harvests (all using native labor) in the corners highlight that relatively little has changed in the hundreds of years Westerners have imported such spices.

There is no shortage of self-promotion, either. The company’s Baltimore headquarters is prominently noted, with an almost ethereal depiction of the “12 1/2 acre Daylight Pure Food Plant” visible below the map. Illustrations of popular McCormick’s products and the flags of the world’s major nations can be seen along the bottom of the sheet. Historical information about the spice trade, the production of vanilla extract, and “The Story of the Map of the World” are all provided on the verso. The last suggests using the map as a game board, reference guide, and “source of indisputable information.” This is one of the earliest editions of the McCormick Spice Maps published, with a printer’s code indicating a probable date of 1931. Later examples, issued through the late 1960s, would promote different products, incorporate new nations, and highlight developing technology. But the underlying global nature of the spice trade remained a defining characteristic.