40 Times People Posted Pics That Kindled Our Fascination With The World, As Shared On This Online Group
Look, we might be a bit biased, but we think that Planet Earth is the best place in our Solar System (and probably the Milky Way Galaxy)! Earth’s full of cute cats, plenty of bamboo to keep us from going hungry, and it’s where we keep all of our stuff. It’s also full of so many wonderful and beautiful things that we lost count… and tons of mysteries to uncover in the future. Heck, the vast majority of the ocean is still left unexplored!
What we’re trying to say is that it makes perfect sense to learn more about our home planet. Some choose to study biology and all living things, others focus on human beings via sociology or economics, but when it comes to the fundamentals, you can’t go wrong with geography. The subject goes far deeper than just rattling off a few capital city names from memory.
Today, we’re featuring the r/geography subreddit, a celebration of all things related to geography. (The name really says it all, doesn’t it?) Scroll down for some of their best posts and if you enjoyed them, consider joining the online community. Geographers, amateur and veteran alike, are all welcome. Got your pencils and notebooks ready? Ready to have some feeky fun? Thinking caps: on! Let's go.
Patrick McGranaghan, a land surveyor from Colorado with a passion for map-making and travel, was kind enough to answer Bored Panda's questions about the importance of geography. Check out what he told us below.
This post may include affiliate links.
Canada Still Has 91% Of The Forest Cover That Existed At The Beginning Of The European Settlement
Patrick, a surveyor, map-maker, and the founder of another huge geography-related subreddit, told us that "geography is a way to systematically understand the world we live in."
"For anyone that wants to explore and discover the world, they must first understand geography," he told Bored Panda about why geography is so important.
We were very curious about what Patrick prioritizes when drawing maps himself. "When I am making maps I am thinking about all the subtleties of the geography I am mapping. Such as the ways some coastlines will curve in certain places or names of places I've never heard of before," he shared a bit about his process.
This Person Really Took The Time To Travel To The Right Spot
Just Right!
"It gives me new ideas of places to visit. For me, accuracy is the most important thing as I've been trained as a land surveyor."
Bored Panda also wanted to know how Patrick would go about convincing someone that learning geography is vital in a world where we can pretty much just Google everything that we need to know about the world and we have access to maps on our phones.
"This is difficult because the omnipresence of the internet has made most people take geography for granted," he said. "However, understanding geography helps you make connections and feeds your imagination. If you really want to increase your vision and understanding of the world it must be based in understanding geography."
A Modern Photo Compared With A Photo Taken Over A Century Earlier In The Same Place
Nice F*cking Meme Bro
Mt. Fuji From The Iss
Geography used to be one of the challenging yet rewarding subjects we learned back in school. Obviously, part of that meant committing the names of all the countries (and their capital cities) in the world, as well as names of rivers, seas, and other geographical features, to memory. And that meant a lot of work and anxiety when you were tested in front of the entire class.
And while some students definitely enjoyed all that, others found it stressful. What we really enjoyed doing was drawing maps and learning about all the different systems working in-sync on the planet. From how mountains form to how rivers ‘work’ and beyond.
The r/geography subreddit is an academic community, so the posts there have to reflect that. “Geography is the study of the earth and its features, inhabitants, and phenomena, and goes far beyond simple location identifications on a map or general trivial information such as capital and country names,” the team running everything writes.
Cross Sea Is A Very Beautiful And Rare Phenomenon That Happens When There Are 2 Wave Systems In The Sea Moving At Oblique Angles. It Might Be Beautiful From Above, But If You Get Caught In These Waves, Your Vessel Can Easily Turn Upside Down Or Lose Its Way
Fun Fact I Found On A Snapple Cap
The 22 countries that weren't invaded are Monaco, Mongolia, Marshall Islands, Mali, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Kyrgyzstan, Ivory Coast, Andorra, Bolivia, Belarus, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Guatemala, Chad, Paraquay, Vatican City, Tajikistan, Sweden, Uzbekistan and Sao Tome and Principle.
That's something for the "well" used quotation marks post somewhere here on BP.
Bit sad we didn't get to finish the list really, so close as well, lol
Nah, if anything, it's sad the list was started at all. So many cultures lost
Load More Replies...Denmark was never invaded. Greenland and the Faroe Islands were. They are a part of the danish kingdom, but they are not a part of Denmark. That would be like saying that Australia isn't a country but is a part of England. The country of Denmark has never been invaded by England!
Yes it was. Copenhagen was successfully invaded during the Napoleonic Wars.
Load More Replies...And you can often tell from the shapes of countries that colonialism has left behind - particularly the 'Rule By Pencil Brigade' (Britain and France, I'm looking at you!), who had a nasty tendency to join forces to invade lands they coveted. They would pick a time when the countries in the region were still reeling from wars or some natural disaster, which left the indigenous populations weak and easy prey, and then move in and grab as much land as they could. They would then sit down with a map, pencil and ruler and divide the land between them into massive chunks, without any consideration for geography or topography, or unimportant incidentals like mountains, rivers, lakes, cities, etc. You can still see some of the mess they left behind on the maps of today - anywhere you see completely straight lines, you just know the 'Rule By Pencil Brigade' were there...
Mostly because someone else got there first or they had no resources to pilfer.
There is a reason it used to be said the sun would rise and fall on the British empire. It still does but on a much smaller scale. Since they still have territory in the Pacific ocean and the Caribbean sea.
Actually, it was " the sun never sets on the British Empire"
Load More Replies...Unlike the Spanish Inquisition, there is no comfy chair in the British version.
There's a comfy chair for the Spanish Inquisition? Really? For their many thousands of victims, my forefathers included, there was nothing even slightly "comfy" about any of the various inquisitions carried out by the Catholic Church throughout the centuries, the Spanish horror included!
Load More Replies...There's an old saying that the sun never set on the British Empire, because not even God trusted them.
"The British empire is so great that upon it, the sun will never set."...../..;."That is because God doesn't trust them in the dark."
Well It's about the UK not Russia, I guess that's what makes it "fun".
Load More Replies...Are the other 22 new nations since Britain was in its prime empire-building and colonization phase?
Britain invaded Democratic Republic of Congo when? Until the early 20C the Congo was ruled by the Belgians and the people used as slaves and treat appaullingly.
This is a very loose interpretation of "members". For many of the so called invaded, only old colonies were invaded. Long before said member existed in the way it now belongs to the UN (eg. "Whatever Empires" that turned "Republics of Whatever" before being UN)
Now tell me the house of Wettin wasn't trying to rule the world! I'll let you figure out who's behind the Great Reset today...
The sun never sets on the British Empire, was a fact for a lot of years.
The statement on the cap is actually not accurate, not true, because when Britain invaded, occupied, colonized so many parts of the world starting hundreds of years ago, many of these countries didn't exist. The U.S. and Canada for example started out as colonies formed from a large land mass sparsely populated by indigenous peoples. Many other currently named countries had very different borders or no borders at all.
Well, now that Britain's out of the EC with all that tiresome human rights stuff, now's the right time for it to finish the job. There are only 22, after all, and I reckon some of them would be pushovers. I reckon Boris would have been in it.
[Close-Up View] Of Antarctica From Space
“Geographers have a special understanding about the Earth and global systems and use analytical skills and applied methods to answer questions about human and physical phenomena. In short, geographers are particularly good at determining the ‘Why of Where.’”
Around since mid-Autumn of 2008, r/geography has carved out a nice niche for itself. At the time of writing, the sub had 157.7k members. There are actually a ton of geography-related subreddits (which makes our inner geeks really happy), and they’re all listed in r/geography’s sidebar.
So if you want to go down the rabbit hole and learn something new while being amazed by all the impressive photos from our planet, you’re given the keys to so much knowledge, all on a silver plate. Just keep in mind it’s like going on Wikipedia: before you know it, it’s several hours later and you totally got way too enraptured by what the digital library has to offer.
Topography Of The Indian Subcontinent
Wow, you can really see why it is it’s own sub-continent from this view!
For All Those Namibia-Zimbabwe Border Posts, I Humbly Raise You This Unexpected Afghanistan-China Border Touch
America By Trump Administration
The r/geography subreddit encourages discussions of all branches of the subject, suggests that users link to original sources, and asks that all members assign a post flair when submitting something. Meanwhile, anyone with a degree in geography can ask the mods for a custom flair for their specific area of expertise which is actually a super cool idea and we hope more subs do this.
We feel like academically-focused subs are more important now than ever. With access to the internet, we have the ability to learn pretty much anything about anything, but there’s a downside to this. As information can spread very quickly, misinformation can, too. (Sometimes, even faster than facts.)
I Feel As If Someone Just Got Bored Of Naming Things Here
Beautiful Aerial View Of Venice, Italy
The square island on the left is the city's historical cemetery, housing the remains of Ezra Pound, Igor Stravinsky, Canova, Tiepolo and others. On the far left corner it is barely visible Murano, the glassmakers island where Venetian's glass makers were moved in 1290 after a string of fires that ravaged the city.
Topography Of South America
You Can Sail In A Straight Line From Chile To Spain Without Ever Crossing Land
Stanislav Canyon, Kherson, Ukraine
Pretty much where the southern end of the front line in Ukraine is at the moment, between the villages of Oleksandrivka and Stanislav.
A Map Of The World Centred Around New Zealand
While being skeptical of information and double-checking things yourself are an important part of the scientific tradition, there comes a point where questioning well-established facts and mistrusting everyone and everything turns from quirky to stubborn.
Canadian-Us Border In Northern Idaho. They Cut Down All The Trees Along The Border To Mark It
Flew Over Horseshoe Bend In Arizona A Couple Weeks Ago, Thought Everyone Here Might Appreciate This!
The Only Geography Lesson You Need
Lee McIntyre, from the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University, explained to Bored Panda during a previous in-depth interview that Flat Earthers should be commended for actually testing out their hypotheses, but they don’t actually understand how science works.
“One of their main arguments was that if the Earth was spinning, the water would fall off. Do they not understand that gravitational pull comes from the center, is based on mass, and works on water too?”
Pangea With Borders
I don't know. Things are too crowded as it is. Let's just keep the continents where they are, please.
Iceland In The Winter
The Elevation And Depth For Great Lakes
According to McIntyre, many Flat Earthers beliefs aren’t based on evidence in the first place. They keep moving the goalposts when debating scientists. For instance, if you ask a conspiracy theorist what kind of evidence would be sufficient to prove them wrong, the answer you get might reveal a lot about how they think.
“I used that question in person at FEIC [Flat Earth International Conference] 2018 and it was very telling. Most of them just said ‘proof’ and I said ‘proof of what?’ They couldn’t be specific,” McIntyre told Bored Panda.
The Vasyugan Swamp Is The Largest Swamp In The World, Which Is Located In Russia. The Swamp Is The Same Size As Switzerland. There Are Legends That Atlantis Is Located Here
Chile Is Gigalong!
Lake Chad In 1967 vs. Lake Chad Now
“At one session, I heard many Flat Earthers talk about losing family members, getting kicked out of their churches, losing jobs… who would do that for fun? These are hardcore science deniers. As hard as it might be to accept, there are people who believe this stuff and are willing even to put their lives on the line for it! One rocket guy crashed trying to prove Flat Earth. They aren’t pretending,” the expert said that there are quite a few people who genuinely believe in the conspiracy. So much so that they’re willing to risk their finances and reputation.
“Conspiracy theories have been around since Nero in the Roman Empire. They pop up in times of turmoil or mass unrest when people try to make sense of the world, but can’t. Flat Earth is in some ways just a run-of-the-mill conspiracy theory. They’ve all grown in popularity because beliefs (even fringe beliefs) are reinforced by peer approval, and that is now readily available on the internet. Virtually all of the flat earthers I met were converted based on YouTube videos. Some then went to the conferences. After that, they were ‘down the rabbit hole.'”
Uluru (Ayers Rock) From A Birds-Eye View
It's incredible at sunset. Changes colours. (BTW, you don't need to put Ayers Rock afterwards - it's like writing Mumbai (Bombay))
Actually There Are Quite A Few Natural Borders In There
I wish I could stand in one place in this picture, for example, Nepal, and then have two other people stand in India and Bangladesh, and then light fireworks and see if we could see each other.
Each Section Contains 10% Of The World's Population!
According to McIntyre, Flat Earthers try to convert others to their cause. “It’s important to remember that these pathologies of human reasoning exist not just to defend themselves but to proselytize new members. They are virulent. They are infectious. I wish Flat Earth were the worst of them, but it isn’t. It’s the scourge of our age. And it will only continue to get worse.”
The Oldest Current National Flag
I was surprised at the UK one, as I am sure that I have seen the flag in historical dramas, but according to wikipedia, the diagonal red cross of Northern Ireland was not added until 1801. Previously it just consisted of the red cross of St. George and white saltire of St. Andrew from 1606. The cross of St. George (England's flag) dates back to somewhere around 1190, and is still the current flag for England, and if Nicola Sturgeon gets her way, will soon be the flag for the Disunited Kingdom!
Egypt's Pyramids Of Giza May Be Considered One Of The Wonders Of The World, But Sudan Has Nearly Twice The Number Of Pyramids. Sudan Touts 200-255 Known Pyramids, Built For The Kushite Kingdoms Of Nubia, Compared To Egypt's Relatively Paltry 138 Pyramids
How Come We Aren’t Taught About The Mongol Empire That Much In School
Because it was more of a nomadic migration than a proper empire, lacking consolidation and with a military push which lost steam as soon as it encountered the outskirts of the european kindgoms at Wien. It failed to transition to a well structured and controlled empire, and lasted less than 100 years, fractured in a myriad of warlord states, leaving barely any cultural impression in Europe. This, compared to an empire spanning 6 centuries (or 12, depending on how you count it after the split) who laid the foundation for most of today's European nations and introduced major technical and cultural advancements still in use today. That said, the Mongol empire and the golden horde are definitely taught in school.
Second Language
This Is Me At The Lowest Point In Sweden, The Pole Indicates Sea Level
This Is Isla Incahuasi: A Small Rocky Outcropping In The Middle Of The Largest Salt Flat On Earth
This Map Shows All Of The Earthquakes With A Magnitude Greater Than 5.0 Over The Last 20 Years
Since Some People Didn't Know What Landlocked Countries Were, I Decided To Make A Map
Did You Know About The French Border With Brazil?
When, As An American, You Think How Strange It Is For Russia To Have This Little, Unconnected Piece Of Land Surrounded By Another Country… Then Remember Alaska
Note: this post originally had 72 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
This whole thing is a actually pretty interesting, especially the one about the depth of the world's lakes. Superior is by far the coldest of the Great Lakes in th US
Yes, I have been to lake Superior many times, and I only remember one time it was warm enough to swim in! It is about two miles from my Grandpa's farm.
Load More Replies...telemetr.io/en/channels/1485137145-jewishalternativemusic2/posts/4417
This was very enjoyable. I saw 40 entries in this post. If there were more then please bring them back.
This whole thing is a actually pretty interesting, especially the one about the depth of the world's lakes. Superior is by far the coldest of the Great Lakes in th US
Yes, I have been to lake Superior many times, and I only remember one time it was warm enough to swim in! It is about two miles from my Grandpa's farm.
Load More Replies...telemetr.io/en/channels/1485137145-jewishalternativemusic2/posts/4417
This was very enjoyable. I saw 40 entries in this post. If there were more then please bring them back.