How Walmart Conquered America

A new CartoDB map visualizes how Walmart discovered America. Walmart Nation plots the historical opening of every Walmart store and reveals how the company contributed to the first map of the new United Stores of America.

Walmart's perilous journey started in 1962 in Rogers, AK. Their primary objective was to explore and map newly acquired territory, find a practical route across the Western half of the continent, and establish an American presence in this new territory before Britain and other European powers tried to claim it.

Thanks to the heroic efforts of these retail pioneers every American can now sleep soundly at night in the secure knowledge that there will be low prices, always, when they awake.