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.
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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.”
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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.”
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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.”
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What is the secret the netherlands hold when it comes to good sleep?
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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.”
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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.
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Is it really the flag of USA? I would like to know who they get this results
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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
I Never have heard that school would ever cancelled due weather in Finland. While it's true that usually -20C is the limit when going out during recesses is not required.
15 cm for England is way off, the country grinds to a halt if the snow is even an atom deep.
Never have schools in Norway been cancelled just because of snow. Roads have been closed, but we have skis 😂
In Texas, in the rare event of snow, which happens once a year if at all, everything is canceled immediately, and for good reason, because our infrastructure isn't meant to be able to deal with snow.
And people over here lose their damn minds when you start throwing around the word snow and ice. They start hoarding bread and milk and toilet paper. No I'm not joking.
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No school will be canceled because of snow in any part of switzerland ever, but funny.
The amount of disruption a snow storm would cause is really dependent on how often that area even gets snow. If your area only gets snow once every few years then your area is not equipped to handle snow nor are vehicles. Have to wait for the melt. Other areas are well accustomed to driving on snow and ice and do it for months every year.
Yes but let us make fun of you like you always do when our countries are suffering when it gets over 30 degrees on summer, same way we are not equipped to handle it, most homes dont have AC and are built to keep the heat inside (well the cold outside) :D
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Meanwhile, in Atlanta, GA: "Flurries! Get the one snow plow out! Close schools for 3 days!"
15 cm for NL? The country is crippled with 2, so I'm not sure schools would hold out until 15.
My school never got cancelled because of snow. Maybe times has changed in 15 years...
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Never has school been cancelled due to snow in Estonia. We tried using that excuse once in school for skipping a day, got written up, parents called and told to put some winter clothes on and said it's not an excuse, it's normal winter. In some areas school might be cancelled if bus cannot reach you but that's small villages and countryside.
Hungary needs that many snow to cancel school, but public transport only needs 1-2mm snow to die...
We are ridiculous in England. It doesn't even have to snow to cancel school. Just get a bit cold.
Northern parts of the world are like: we get snow all the time the school would have to be buried in snow for it to be no school.
Pffft they never cancel school in Finland because of snow. 😂
It's not snow which causes disruption. It's rare snow. If you know it will happen you can prepare. Some preparations like snow chains don't work for small amounts of snow.
I think the Britain is wrongly labeled. It only takes 0.5cm of snow over there for panic to spread.
It might take 10-15cm of snow to shut schools in England but it’ll take a lot less than that to stop the trains.
My kids have only has snow days maybe twice (my oldest is almost 18) - first was when we got about 3.4 feet of snow randomly in one afternoon - everything shut down. I had to get home from Glasgow city centre to get them from school, usually takes about 20mins, took 3hrs and I was lucky as my dad happened to be nearby so I got a lift with him. Second time was due to about 2feet of snow where we live, which is in the middle of a valley so we tend to have our own wee mini climate compared to surrounding areas. We don't tend to get much snow in Scotland, not enough to have the necessary (expensive) snow plows etc standing by to clear the roads, so on the rare occasions we do get a lot we just aren't equipped to deal with it - I'm ok with it though, a day home with the kids to play in the snow is a treat
There should be a white spot on Paris. They freak out and close everything and the roads are a huge mess with 1 cm of snow.
My area they don't care about snow, they care about if they can get the school buses started. They run on diesel, so the colder it is the worse it is. If the buses don't start, school is canceled. We still have a lot of kids who walk to school but they don't count, honestly.
I live in America, in Southern Texas I was excused from school because it snowed a bit (like flurries i guess) but it was the first time it showed in my town since 32 years ago. We had flurries the next year too, but I doubt we will have that again. For the temp, it was literally like just about freezing point, 32°F
Never seen school closed in Poland when u was a kid and I'm talking -25 winters and way over 30cm of snow plus a layer of ice on everything
Never got school cancelled in finland because of snow 😃. Few times bus couldn't use the road, but then my parents took me to school. Not an excuse.
The snow doesn't even have to reach the ground for schools in Greece to close
A few days ago, the streets were coated in ice and the buses still went
In the USA in often has more to do with temperature than snow depth. Most places that get bad snow are usually plow ready. But theres still a lot of kids we don't want freezing while waiting for buses in the morning.
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I think the countries colored black have it RIGHT YO! And I'm American!
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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.
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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
