This is one of three chapters about authoritative, scientific presentations of the Emerillon/Teko of French Guiana and their environment: 1) historiography, 2) cartography and 3) fewness and the politics of numbers.

The chapter argues that cartography is a very terrestrial endeavour: although maps derive their authority from their omnipotent view from nowhere, they are made through earthly tours and "data" collection without which they would be void of content and perfectly impotent. But maps are not only representations of territories, they become effective producers of such territories and have effect in the daily lives of the people inhabiting these territories.

The chapter analyses the earthly makings of cartography in the region of French Guiana, from the early days of discovery and stitching together of isolated sites into a conquerable whole, to present-day efforts to produce full-fledged reproductions of the territory through satellite imagery. The chapter relates two instances of mapmaking where tribulations, errors and misunderstandings on the ground are transformed into authoritative representations/maps, giving rise to a series of clashes between people and groups in the concerned territories.

The chapter concludes with a description of Emerillon/Teko modes of way-finding.