Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft: Bildstatistisches Elementarwerk - Staaten und Bevölkerung 1930 [14080.025]
The pattern
This still is filed under Data as proof.
Define
A chart, map, or count that is the argument, not an illustration next to the argument.
Mechanism
Sighted evidence. The reader is asked to believe their eyes: a bar, a share, a spread on a map.
Verdict
The claim is comparative or quantitative and the figure can be read without a caption doing the sell.
Why it works
The whole plate runs on one rule: quantity is shown by repeating a symbol, never by enlarging it, so the reader counts rather than estimates area. Placing the figures on the map fuses two variables - who and where - into a single glance with no legend lookup and no axis. Colour is doing categorical work only, not decorative work, which is why ten regions read apart at thumbnail size. The empty ocean and huge margins are deliberate: the density of figures over China and India only lands because most of the sheet is silent.
Steal this when
Use this structure when a quantity varies across places and the geography is part of the argument, not just a filing label. It is the right form when your reader must feel a ratio between regions instantly and would stall on a stacked bar chart or a choropleth.