In 2013, a Polish captain ran his cargo ship aground as he tried to sail from Scotland to Belgium. He plotted a straight line from Scotland to Belgium, forgetting that England was in the way. He had been using an unapproved GPS device to navigate, and the lookout was asleep when the ship crashed.
Geography
Lesotho, officially known as the Kingdom…
Lesotho, officially known as the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country completely surrounded by South Africa. It is one of only three independent states completely surrounded by another country.
Submission by Joseph J
The first attempt to make an accurate…
The first attempt to make an accurate world map was by an astrologer (Claudius Ptolemy, second century CE) so that he could chart the relationship between the person’s birthplace and the heavenly bodies. While doing so, he coined the term “geography”.
The USA and Russia have islands that are just 2.5 miles…
The USA and Russia have islands that are just 2.5 miles apart, and the water between them freezes over in the winter. So technically you can walk from the USA to Russia.
When the spanish landed on the Yucatan Peninsula, they asked…
When the Spanish landed on the Yucatan Peninsula, they asked “where are we?”, to which the indigenous population responded “Yucatan”, meaning “I don’t understand what he just said”.
There is a fictional island in the South Atlantic…
There is a fictional island in the South Atlantic, off the west coast of Africa, at lat/long 0,0, called ‘Null Island’. Although it doesn’t exist in reality, it serves as an error trap for map systems. Map enthusiasts have given the island its own history, geography and even flag.
Pheasent Island is jointly owned by France…
Pheasent Island is jointly owned by France and Spain, for six months alternatingly.
The soviet military mapped the entire world with an extreme…
The soviet military mapped the entire world with an extreme accuracy. They created more than 1 million maps and some are still used today. It remains one of the most ambitious cartography project till today.
France and Netherlands share a land border. It’s in the Caribbean….
France and Netherlands share a land border. It’s in the Caribbean on Saint Martin – the smallest inhabited island divided between two countries.
A man claimed the only unclaimed habitable area left on earth…
A man claimed the only unclaimed habitable area left on earth, Bir Tawil, so that his daughter could be a real princess.
Africa’s true size isn’t shown on standard maps and it’s larger…
Africa’s true size isn’t shown on standard maps and it’s larger than China, West Europe, and the US combined.