30 Unusual Maps That Might Change How You See The World, As Shared On This Instagram Account
Interview With Artist
You’d be surprised how many map enthusiasts there are, if you’re not already one of them. And to those who think that cartography is a legacy from an ancient world, let me tell you, it’s exactly the opposite.
Think of it as a mode of information telling, quite like story-telling, but with its own subtle rules and features. Today, maps can tell us all kinds of miscellaneous things you had no clue existed and the “Lover Of Geography” Instagram page is a perfect online source for that. Followed by 58.3k followers, the page is dedicated to sharing “high quality posts about interesting topics.” They also promise “you won't get bored here,” and they deliver.
Below we collected some of the most entertaining entries from the page, so scroll down and upvote your favorites as you go. After you’re done, make sure to check out our previous posts with unusual maps that may change how you see the world here, here and here.
This post may include affiliate links.
This Post Shows What Traditional Houses Look Like In Different Countries
This Post Shows Some Cities From Different Countries From Above
This Post Shows The Legal Status Of Homosexuality Around The World In 2022
To find out more about the creator behind the Lover Of Geography Instagram page, Bored Panda reached out to 20-year-old content creator from the Netherlands Melih Orkun Köksal, also known by his Instagram handle @melykoksal. Melih told us that he started this page in December 2019 when he was only 17 years old. “I currently study Earth Sciences at the College of Rotterdam. Other than geography my hobbies are going to the gym and hanging out with friends, not very different from a normal 20-year-old,” he said.
When asked about his interest in cartography, Melih told us that this fascination began in his childhood. “As a little kid as young as 5 years old, I always had a little bit of passion for world maps or countries. I had a huge world map in my room. Every day when I came back home from school I kept staring at the world map in my room because of how fascinating it was to me while most other kids just wouldn't care. I was playing games with myself trying to find all the countries and cities on the map. Or I played geography games on my PC after school.”
This Post Shows Which One Was Searched More In 2021 In Each Country
This Post Shows Which Country Europeans Think Has On Average The Most Attractive Citizens. Based On Polls On 1000 People Per Country
This Post Shows The Countries That Have Taken "Eat The Rich" Very Seriously
In 1672 The Dutch crowds did what crowds do best, namely lose all semblance of sense or sanity. The prime minister of the country was stripped naked, mutilated, and according to some reports, had their livers removed and eaten by the crowds. “C’est la vie, c’est la guerre,” as the French say.
Moreover, the creator of the Lover Of Geography page recounted that he always wanted to know where the countries are located as a child. “I often asked my parents questions like 'Dad, where is this country located' because I was simply so interested in locations. My parents would notice this weird obsession and in a matter of time, when I was 6 years old, I knew all countries and their capital cities,” he said. Throughout his childhood, Melih said, his knowledge of maps grew “so much to the point that teachers in elementary school or my own parents had to ask me for extra information when we were going on vacation to a different country. Kids in school I was asked me to help them with their geography assignments.”
This Post Shows When Women Were Allowed To Vote In Europe
I believe the women went on strike to get the vote. Strike as in no work and no sex :D
Load More Replies...
Sorry to be really boring, but in the UK only SOME women got the right to vote in 1918. There were restrictions based on age (over 30) and property ownership qualifications. Women only got to vote on exactly the same terms as men after reforms in 1928.
Its only just occurred to me, and maybe an historian can tell me if I'm right: 1918 was also when working class men were first given the vote, so did conservative politicians give middle class women the vote to stop socialists from getting into power?
Load More Replies...
Dannngggg I never realized how recent it was that women received rights, that’s really sad, I always think about it like its a million years ago but for almost all of these it’s less than a hundred :(
Yep my grandma was allowed to vote but not allowed to have her own bank account and her letters got addressed to my grandpa, not her. So even in the 50s and 60s women where not fully seen as responsible citizens.
Load More Replies...
There’s no irony.Mostly men died in ww2,women took over mens jobs in wartime ,that’s pretty logical.I don’t mean it to be chauvinistic or something,it was new reality,new world .Kudos to women.Same happened in other countries after ww1
Load More Replies...
Belgium: women were allowed to vote for the municipal council from 1921 onwards. Only in 1948 women were given full voter's rights.
Bulgaria: in 1937 the women who has at least one child in marriage, can vote in elections
*sigh* they give the rights to the ones who will vote for them.
Load More Replies...
In 1919, only certain categories of Belgian women got the right to vote (mostly widows or mothers of soldiers killed in WWI), general voting rights for women were only introduced in 1948...
Interestingly, when women got right to vote in UK, Indian women too got it as we were under British rule. When we became independent and our constitution got established in 1950, everyone got their right to vote.. men & women
Actually it is wrong for Romania, the year is 1938, and the actual Moldova Republic was then part of Romania so it is also 1938.
Women didn't have equal voting rights as men in the majority of these countries, it often depended on having to be older or married or having a higher education.
if you're not married you're wothless (or was it a way to get women to marry men? to have rights?)
Load More Replies...
Do they actually vote in Russia? I thought the dude just put himself into power?
The communist were very hot on equally rights for men and women. When they got in power they gave them equal rights to vote. Then very rapidly gave them an equal rights to have their vote ignored.
Load More Replies...
What a lot of people forget that the right to vote was not universal for men too. In Holland for instance all men could vote from 1917, before that only of certain standing, position and class could vote. This was in most countries, voting was always meant for the 'higher classes'
Load More Replies... 
Are we talking about when the law came or when the election was held? In Sweden the law about allowing women to vote came in 1919 but the next election was in 1921.
1893 New Zealand was the first self governing country to give women the vote
This makes the UK seem quite progressive, in actual fact, in 1918 they only granted women over 30 who owned property the right to vote. The Irish free state in 1922 granted women the same right to vote as men, it wasn't until 1926-1928 that the UK did the same.
The Irish free state started well, but then over the next 15 years legalised many forms of discrimination against women, including preventing women from serving on juries, banning married women from working in the public sector and banning contraception. Its things like that that make a single metric bad for determining how progressive a society is. Consider, for example that women in Iran have the same voting rights as men.
Load More Replies...
In North America, it was at least a few hundred years ago. In the sense that the Iroquois Confederacy (upon which US democracy was largely based). "women citizens of the six nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) confederacy had full and equal participation in their government, which was based on consensus with everyone having a voice. "
Too bad that the unsophisticated Europeans did not adopt more of the rules of the much more advanced Iroquois Confederacy when the US was formed.
Load More Replies...
I'm shocked by France! 1944?! In the USA, it was widely known in some circles that France was the place to be if you wanted autonomy, to live an "eccentric" life style like interracial, single strong woman, etc. It's kinda shocking to me because my Mom's parents fled Poland in 1914 or 1915, during the war.
Very entertaining movie about Swiss women getting the right to vote in 1971: https://youtu.be/EMArK-cowTs
Beware of Iceland. Stealthily sailing southwards, It's about to install itself between France and Spain.
And here was I thinking it was crazy that the US took until 1919, compared to Australia's 1902!
Most of these countries were predominately white when the franchise was extended. They wouldn't have had any race-based laws. Only the UK and France would have had colonies and I believe the UK excluded them from elections and France included them in elections. But even excluding a colony from participation, any citizen of that colony finding themselves in Britain was entitled to vote.
Load More Replies...
This Post Shows What The French Language Sounds Like According To Europeans Based On A Pollhow Is The Test Done
This Post Shows Where Americans Pressed
Years later, when Melih was 16 or 17, he saw all these mappers on Instagram and he thought he could do that too, but better. So he wanted a page to share his “own map style and not just stolen maps from Reddit. I wanted to entertain people and educate them at the same time by making maps more fun.”
Recently, Melih has noticed maps popping up everywhere online since 2016. He believes that now younger folks are being targeted with cartography.“I am trying to select maps people will look at without just scrolling. It needs to be interesting and fun but it also needs to be based on reliable sources. So I try to share maps with the combination of these 2 things, the maps that are fun and come from reliable sources.”
This Post Shows The Countries That Are The Opposite Of Each Other When It Comes To Random Aspects In 2021
What is the secret the netherlands hold when it comes to good sleep?
This Post Shows Some Controversial Statistic In Europe And It's Surrounding Areas
This Post Shows The Conflict Between Ukraine And Russia Which We Of Course All Have Heard About Recently
Hungary is not absolutely correct. Yet. We, Hungarians think that Viktor Orban actually supports Putin, that's why he acts like that, but he still wants to get money from EU. We hope this will change in 2 days finally, because Hungarian people stand with Ukraine <3
Melih also added that sometimes he uses hot topics to gain more audience, “For example, during the World Cup, I made more football-related posts.”When asked whether he ever experiments with the design and style of his maps, Melih said that he indeed has done multiple experiments with the design but he prefers to stick with one style. “So my page will be more recognizable as if it's my own brand,” he said and added that “I tend to go for a minimalist look because it's easier to look at and understand what's going on on the map.”
This Post Shows What Was Searched More In 2021
Pardon me but i had to google search what is Hentai, now I regret it. Dont do it if you are at office or a public place.
This Post Shows The Countries That Are The Most Willing To Fight For Their Own Country In A War
This Post Shows The Average Age Women Get Married In Europe. Based On Data From 2019-2021
This Post Shows The Countries With The Highest Quality Of Life In 2021
Is it really the flag of USA? I would like to know who they get this results
This Post Shows The Scariest Things In European Countries Obviously It's Not Meant To Be Taken Serious
This Post Shows Which Countries Europeans Joke The Most About. The Flag On The Country Shows The Country They Joke The Most About
This Post Shows What Traditional Breakfasts Around The World Typically Are Sweet vs. Salty
Sweet breakfast seems to be only popular in countries that speak a Romance language.
This Post Shows Which Specific Group Faces The Most Discrimination In Different Countries In Europe
This Post Shows The Estimated Percentage Of The Population Of Countries That Are Identified As An Atheist Or Agnostic
This Post Shows At What Age Europeans Leave Their Nest On Average In 2021
This Post Shows The Air Quality Of Europe In From Statistics Based On 2010-2021
This Post Shows Countries That Have Never Reached 45 50 Or 55 Degrees
This Post Shows How Much Snow Does It Take For Schools To Be Cancelled Estimated
Haha they don't even need sweden on this map, I've never ever been excused from school or work due to snow, and we've definitely had worse than 40+ cm
This Post Shows The Sport People Do The Most For Fun Or Basically Is One The Most Popular Sports To Do In That Country (Football/Soccer Not Included) Otherwise This Would Be A Boring
This Post Shows The Average Price In Euros Of The Monthly Rent Of A 1 Bedroom Apartment Located In The City Centre Of Each Capital City Of The Countries On This Map
Now do one comparing those figures with the average salary and see the map change. *Cries in Spain*
This Post Shows How People Around The World Prefer Their French Fries To Be Eaten
I think the countries colored black have it RIGHT YO! And I'm American!
This Post Shows The Literal Meaning Of Country Names
What does that even mean? France is named that way because it was the"land of the Franks". Franks were the tribes that were there so long ago.
This Post Shows The Coldest Temperatures In Celsius That Have Ever Been Measured. Note That The Russian Temperature Was Measured In Siberia Asia
Note: this post originally had 100 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I feel many of those maps are inaccurate or partial. It would be much better with their sources.
same. Most of these are based on polls on reddit. 5 people reply - "condiment of choice with fries". Yeah sure, those are not even sold together with fries, but whatevah.
Load More Replies...
Aotearoa doesn't appear on many, and where it's present it's in the wrong place. Not sure of this geographer...
I skip reading through after couple of maps since it seems inaccurate or false
I feel many of those maps are inaccurate or partial. It would be much better with their sources.
same. Most of these are based on polls on reddit. 5 people reply - "condiment of choice with fries". Yeah sure, those are not even sold together with fries, but whatevah.
Load More Replies... Aotearoa doesn't appear on many, and where it's present it's in the wrong place. Not sure of this geographer...
I skip reading through after couple of maps since it seems inaccurate or false
