The map is not the territory

The map is not the territory. Long before language, humans navigated the world by mapping it internally. These maps are not only spatial but mnemonic and conceptual, revealing that the brain evolved less to think in the abstract than to survive through orientation.

Recent advances in neuroscience show that spatial perception is not just a sensory function but a fundamental architecture of consciousness itself. Grid and place cells — specialized neurons in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex together form an “internal GPS.” These cells activate as we move, allowing us to build a mental map of where we are, where we’ve been, and where we might go.

The hippocampus encodes elements of our lived geography — what we fear, what we pursue, and what we hope to grow. In this way, territory becomes more than survival: it becomes a mirror of the self.

And indigenous practices show how those maps live in story, ceremony, and Country — not as metaphor, but as lived practice.

Would you like to learn more about the theory and practice of Territory Mapping?