Here’s a cool little bit of history from the blog Strange Maps.

The painter Gilbert Stuart was inspired by the awkward shape of an electoral district on a map he saw in a newpaper editor’s office. He decorated the snake-shaped district with a head, a set of wings and claws, making it out to be some kind of antediluvian monster.
“That will do for a salamander,” he said to the editor.
“Gerrymander!”, replied he to Stuart.

For the man responsible for the odd shape of that electoral district, in eastern Massachusetts, was Elbridge Gerry, governor of the state. His Democratic-Republican partisans had stitched together the district in such a way as to assure the electoral victory of their candidate and therefore the defeat of the candidate for the other main party, the Federalists. The year was 1812, and the first of many recorded uses of the term occurred that spring.

So for those of you hoping to spot a Gerrymander in the wild, here’s what the first one looked like :

And for a good example of how this beast has evolved, here’s a map of Texas’ 29th Congressional district :