Blog
Writing about the world itself — how borders came to be where they are, which countries changed their names, and the places that do not fit on a list.
Every country that has changed its name
Country names are not fixed. Around forty have changed since 1945, and the reasons fall into four fairly clean categories.
Read — 4 minThe countries that do not exist
Several places have a government, a population and firm borders, and still do not appear on most lists of countries. The reason is recognition, not geography.
Read — 4 minHow borders get drawn
Borders come in recognisable types, and the type usually tells you who drew it, when, and whether the people living there were consulted.
Read — 5 minThe world’s strangest borders
Some borders are strange because of history, some because of bad arithmetic, and one because two countries would each rather have less land.
Read — 4 minWhy time zones are stranger than you think
Time zones look like a tidy grid of 24 slices. Almost nothing about the real map is tidy, and every exception has a reason.
Read — 4 minBlog or guides?
Two sections, and the split is real rather than decorative. The guides are about how to learn this material — the order to take regions in, why flags come before capitals, what a map projection is hiding from you. They are method.
The blog is about the subject. Why Africa has straight borders and Europe does not, which countries are countries and which only behave like them, why China runs on one time zone across five. No practice required.