Know your geography

The world is a very large place, but it is becoming a much smaller place with news, internet, social media etc.  However, one thing is certain, there are more countries than you will ever know and it is important that you have sound knowledge of basic geography.

When I was child, we had a puzzle map of the US, which had 50 puzzle pieces.  On each of the pieces it had the state name and the capital.  To this day, I still see this puzzle and know my US capitals and their location.  We also had an Atlas called "Our World' by National Geographic that I used to pour over and read every night.  This is what piqued my interest in geography, that I hope I can pass down to you.


At one point in man's history we thought the world was flat, some cultures believed that the world was held up on four large elephants, others believed it was created from the froth of a snake that had been twisted.  The world has been and always be a mystery in many ways but to know as much about the geographic world is a nice trait to have.  

Why you may ask?  In your travels you will meet many people from others parts of the world and knowledge of someone's homeland shows respect, interest,intellect, worldiness.  People (who are traveling or are overseas) LOVE to talk about their homeland, be it nostalgia or homesickness.  Imagine meeting someone that you find interesting or that you might like who is from Uruguay, would it not be cool to ask 'from Montevideo or elsewhere?'

Map of world, 1570.  Note that Australia takes up entire southern pole.

I have found that knowledge of the world (be it flags, country capitals, currency, languages, religion, economy) makes the world easier to understand and most important of all, demonstrates that we are really are the same people underneath it all.



Time capsule: 
Newest countries
South Sudan - 2011
Kosovo - 2008
Serbia - 2006
Montenegro - 2006
East Timor - 2002