Map of USA labeled by an Aussie who's never been here...

[cyclones500]

And most of Africa is he same.

I sometimes think about that because way back as HS freshman geography, we had to memorize countries & capitals of Africa .. I did fairly well on the test. But I bet at least one-fourth of the names have changed since then. Biggest problem, I can't always remember WHICH.

 

[MeanDean]

Rhodesia has been Zimbabwe for over 40 years.

Right. And I learned Africa geography before that. That was kind of the stepping off point.

 

[JM4CY]

I sometimes think about that because way back as HS freshman geography, we had to memorize countries & capitals of Africa .. I did fairly well on the test. But I bet at least one-fourth of the names have changed since then. Biggest problem, I can't always remember WHICH.

You wanna see screwed up boundaries, look up the one(s) between India and Bangladesh. I sh*t you not, there are parts of Bangladesh inside of pieces of India that are inside of Bangladesh. It's a god damn mess.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Agree. I think my map of Australia would just be two zones. Where people live and where people don’t.

Coastal cities and vast expanse of desert filled with bitey things

 

[houjix]

You wanna see screwed up boundaries, look up the one(s) between India and Bangladesh. I sh*t you not, there are parts of Bangladesh inside of pieces of India that are inside of Bangladesh. It's a god damn mess.

It wasn't until the Ukraine thing that I realized there is still a part of Russia west of Lithuania. It's a chunk north of Poland on the Baltic Sea that stayed with Russia during he breakup.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

It wasn't until the Ukraine thing that I realized there is still a part of Russia west of Lithuania. It's a chunk north of Poland on the Baltic Sea that stayed with Russia during he breakup.

So it's like Russia's version of Carter Lake

 

[ImJustKCClone]

It wasn't until the Ukraine thing that I realized there is still a part of Russia west of Lithuania. It's a chunk north of Poland on the Baltic Sea that stayed with Russia during he breakup.

We did a cruise around the Baltic sea in August; we were trying to figure out what this one unlabelled country was...finally realized it was part of Russia after searching a half-dozen maps on our phones.

 

[JM4CY]

It wasn't until the Ukraine thing that I realized there is still a part of Russia west of Lithuania. It's a chunk north of Poland on the Baltic Sea that stayed with Russia during he breakup.

This is a long but really well done video explaining why that exists. Super, super interesting and it actually makes sense as to why it is there.

 

[StPaulCyclone]

USA is a lot more like Eurasia. Culturally and borders are wild and divergent.

There used to be a show called “How the states got their name”; very interesting.

 

[cyclones500]

There used to be a show called “How the states got their name”; very interesting.

is that same as "How the States Got Their Shapes"? (probably same one, just title detail) ... if so that is pretty cool, I watched a lot of episodes of that.

 

[Bipolarcy]

Australia is pretty easy. The western half of the country is one state called Western Australia. Then there's a big chunk in the north that's called Northern Territory, south of that is a state called South Australia, The northeast corner and second largest state after Western Australia is Queensland and the southeast corner of the country is divided into two states, New South Wales and Victoria. And yes, Tasmania is the seventh state. I have more trouble with Canada.

Hell, I just learned yesterday that Puerto Rico is actually an archipelago consisting of over 100 islands. Most of them are small little dots with no people on them, but I always thought Puerto Rico was one big island with maybe a couple of those dots spread out around it. I never realized there were over 100.

 

[StPaulCyclone]

is that same as "How the States Got Their Shapes"? (probably same one, just title detail) ... if so that is pretty cool, I watched a lot of episodes of that.

Yes, that’s what I meant. Thank you.

 

[cyclones500]

drawing a map of the states from memory is something I like to do from time to time if I’m bored and have a notebook with me.

If you draw one map of US and it’s horrible, then try a second time, the next one gets so much better.

I think you're on to something ...

Here are two quick freehands of Midwest I did. Neither is "good" but #2 is a slight improvement.

 

[BryceC]

Awesome. Australian people must be a blast when they are drinking.

Can confirm. My favorite cohort of people on the planet.

I'm also guessing there is a pretty good portion of people that couldn't name a single state in Aus.

 

[JM4CY]

Can confirm. My favorite cohort of people on the planet.

I'm also guessing there is a pretty good portion of people that couldn't name a single state in Aus.

Fun fact. Southern Rednecks in the US have a parallel in Australia but opposite, Northern Country Blumpkins

 

[jcyclonee]

Can confirm. My favorite cohort of people on the planet.

I'm also guessing there is a pretty good portion of people that couldn't name a single state in Aus.

You are absolutely correct. There might be a surprising number that can name one because of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character.

I enjoy geography and off of the top of my head I could only name New South Wales and Tasmania. Looking at the map, I may have randomly guessed two more simply because of their names and where they are located.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

You are absolutely correct. There might be a surprising number that can name one because of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character.

I enjoy geography and off of the top of my head I could only name New South Wales and Tasmania. Looking at the map, I may have randomly guessed two more simply because of their names and where they are located.

I would have had 4 - Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Western Australia. Mostly because I read a series of books about a fictional family which started with their original ancestor who came to Australia as a prisoner, and her descendants through to present day Australia. Kind of like the John Jakes "Americans" series...

 

[BCClone]

Coastal cities and vast expanse of desert filled with bitey things

Don’t forget the hoppy things.

 

[Buster28]

I don't expect most Americans to know or understand much about American geography (or much else about this country, for that matter). I've always loved maps since I was a little kid. They just made sense to me. So, I would learn everything I could about different maps, try to figure out all the 'weird' countries that most other people would have never even heard of, know the largest cities in various countries, and remember all that stuff just because I found it interesting. Used to love doing the geography quizzes on Sporcle, too. Anyway, I would never expect anyone who hasn't been to the U.S. before to know much of anything about it by looking at a map. Obviously, some do. But the vast majority of people around the world know even less about us that the average American (I hope!). But this is the type of stuff that takes up way too much space in my brain.

 

[bawbie]

When I was in Australia and said I was from Iowa most people had no clue.

If I said Midwest they nodded like at least they felt like it was a word that could mean something directionally.

A couple times I said it was next to the Mississippi River and they automatically assumed it was in the South, because to most people who know about racism know Mississippi is in the South.

Best answer was "3 hours West of Chicago."

30+ years ago my dad was in Australia for work and checked into the hotel and the worker saw he was from Clear Lake, Iowa and said "Oh, that's where Buddy Holly died!"