The Village That Was Not There
Written by Studio AM.
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In the third edition of his county atlas, Aurel Brenner drew a hamlet named Kessel where no hamlet stood. It was not a mistake. He used a trick he had learned from another mapmaker: adding an invented feature that would also appear in any copied map. If a rival reproduced Kessel, Brenner would have evidence of copying.
Brenner did not anticipate that people would build the place he had invented. A road crew, working from his atlas, cut a track toward Kessel because the atlas showed one. A cattle dealer raised a shed at the junction, reasoning that a hamlet with a road would soon want feed. Within a decade the shed had become a shop, the shop a post stop, and the post stop a cluster of nine houses whose residents, when asked, said they lived in Kessel.
Brenner visited once, late in life. He stood at the crossroads for a long time without speaking. His trap had worked in reverse: instead of catching a thief, his invented place had guided the decisions that created a real village.
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Questions
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Question 1 of 4
What is the passage mainly about?
The answer is D: A false place on a map that became a real place because people acted as though it existed.
Kessel begins as a false feature in an atlas. People use the map to make decisions, and their roads, businesses and houses create a real village.
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Question 2 of 4
Why did Brenner add the invented hamlet?
The answer is B: To help identify a rival who copied his map.
A rival who copied the map might also copy Kessel. Its appearance in another atlas would provide evidence of copying.
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Question 3 of 4
What has Brenner's plan led to that he did not intend?
The answer is C: People have treated the map as a guide for building a settlement.
Brenner wanted to detect copying. Instead, the road crew and cattle dealer act on the map, and their decisions help create the place it shows.
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Question 4 of 4
What is a 'hamlet' in this passage?
The answer is A: a very small village
Kessel grows from a shed to a shop to a cluster of nine houses whose residents say they live there, so a hamlet is a very small settlement.
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