Statistical Atlas of the United States, Based Upon the Results of the Eleventh Census (1890) - plate 7: Accessions of territory
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
Restricting the data layer to one ink, and running the base map in a muted complementary tone, means the historical argument sits visually on top of the geography without any tint or key to decode. Labelling each region in the red letterspaced capitals of the data layer, rather than in a legend, removes the lookup entirely: the name is inside the shape it names. The very large paper margin and the small map give the sheet ceremonial weight appropriate to the opening plate, and signal that this is the frame for everything that follows. Arching the type along each territory lets the word carry the shape of the region, so a reader takes the boundaries in before reading a syllable.
Steal this when
Use this when you need to show how a present-day whole was assembled from parts, a product line built by acquisitions or a territory stitched from reassignments, and the audience already knows the finished shape. Draw the finished thing in a quiet neutral, overprint the seams and their names in a single accent, and label inside the shape instead of building a legend.