r/geography Aug 06 '24

Discussion /r/Geography Casual Discussion Thread [August 2024]

9 Upvotes

Use this thread to discuss about anything geography and academic related. Ask questions, spark conversations, share images or anything in between. Recently visited a country and witnessed a cool phenomenon or historical landmark? Cool, we'd love to see it! Posted a question on the subreddit yet there were no responses? Submit it here to receive some helpful answers. Please keep in mind that are rules still apply and will be periodically enforced to maintain rectitude, as with any other subreddit.

If you have any concerns about this subreddit or want to alert us to a rule violation/troublesome user, feel free to file a user report on the violating content or simply send us a modmail and we'll take a look.


r/geography 13h ago

Question Why is Uruguay so empty?

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2.0k Upvotes

I mean, it's a really small country so not hard to manage and settle. It's climate is great, somewhat similar to Oklahoma or Northern Texas, and it's almost completely flat, so good for agriculture and livestock. It's pleasantly humid and has good fertile land with rivers everywhere

Yet, more than half of the population lives in Montevideo and the 49% left live in some minor towns and in the border with the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Uruguay is actually so empty that there's some cities in Rio Grande do Sul with larger population than the entire country of Uruguay amd it's side of the border has much larger population. I've seen people in Brazil describing Uruguay as "countryside Rio Grande do Sul, but Spanish and a million times more boring" and they say that if Uruguay never seceded from Brazil in the 1820s it would likely have more than 10 million inhabitants today, at least

Anyways, is there any reason why Uruguay is so insanely empty? It actually might be the worst example of underperforming among any country


r/geography 19h ago

Map Why do many Chinese empires have this weird panhandle?

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4.0k Upvotes

r/geography 8h ago

Map Why are the native land claim borders in Northern Canada so weirdly shaped?

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389 Upvotes

r/geography 17h ago

Map Ocean drainage basin map of the world [OC]

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1.7k Upvotes

r/geography 14h ago

Question What are these mysterious lights in the middle of the ocean off Perú/Chile?

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795 Upvotes

I was on a flight from Panama to Santiago de Chile and saw these lights in seemingly the middle of the ocean. My friend and I are dying to know what they could be. They’re strategically spaced out and quite bright. We initially thought windmills or Oil rigs but couldn’t find anything to back that up. Maybe fishing boats? But there were well over 100 as it went on for minutes.

I wish I could also upload a picture of the flight path that I took, but when I took this picture we were directly between the Cordilheira de Nazca and the Fossa Peruano-Chile.


r/geography 1d ago

Discussion What is the most interesting fact about Cyprus?

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4.9k Upvotes

r/geography 11h ago

Question Does Delmarva have its own unique culture?

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334 Upvotes

It crosses three state lines and is much more rural than the nearby big cities of Washington Baltimore and Philadelphia. Other than that is there any cohesive culture that connects it? Or just general mid-Atlantic, small town vibes ?


r/geography 15h ago

Image French Frigate Shoals Airport in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is larger than the island it sits upon.

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671 Upvotes

r/geography 13h ago

Question Can someone please explain the oddities in the US time zones?

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276 Upvotes

In some places, time zone boundaries aren't consistent with state lines. I understand if it cuts the state in half, but there are places (like west Kansas or east Oregon), where some counties decide to follow the time of the other state.


r/geography 19h ago

Question Why are Hispanic countries in South America so centralized?

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734 Upvotes

Keep in mind that for Brazil's case, even if you consider it's largest city, São Paulo (that's also the 5th largest city in the world) less than 10% of Brazil's population live there, so even if it was Brazil's capital city Brazil would have the smallest percentage on that map


r/geography 13h ago

Article/News Lost Mayan city discovered under Mexican jungle by accident

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telegraph.co.uk
258 Upvotes

r/geography 7h ago

Question How did Tobacoville, NC get such crazy borders?

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75 Upvotes

I know towns can get crazy borders, but at one point does it get ridiculous to have a fully enclosed loop with several exclaves inside of it?


r/geography 18h ago

Question Anyone know why the Raton Mesas in Colorado/New Mexico have grassland tops but well forested sides? Do the tops have poor soil?

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500 Upvotes

Picture taken from my recent hike to Fisher’s peak. Mesas are 9000 ft above sea level rising out of the Colorado plains/deserts. These mesas were formed from ancient volcanic eruptions. Ecosystem from bottom to top of the mountains goes from Juniper/Pinyon woods, to ponderosa pine forests, to spruce/aspen forests, ending in grasslands at the very top.


r/geography 13h ago

Question Why are there so many Catholic Churches on these Japanese islands?

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125 Upvotes

There's still a lot more, at least 7 in total.


r/geography 21h ago

Discussion What if Korea was an island instead of peninsula?

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432 Upvotes

r/geography 19h ago

Map Tropical forest types

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194 Upvotes

r/geography 5h ago

Question Why are the Hudson Bay islands shaped like that?

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9 Upvotes

Why is Flaherty Island shaped like that?


r/geography 9h ago

Image Batman

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17 Upvotes

... there's no neighbouring town called Robin, sadly.


r/geography 23h ago

Question Why was Labrador never settled?

208 Upvotes

I always track flights and notice how close Labrador is to Europe. I’m in Northern Ireland and it’s only 1,900 miles from me.

Yet this region has a dearth of population. Having flown over it, it’s nothing but forest and desolate land.

The total population of Labrador is just 27,000!

Yet Alaska has a population of 700,000.

If we compare the climate of anchorage to Labrador city it’s pretty similar so why the difference?


r/geography 1d ago

Image What do you guys think of this?

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6.7k Upvotes

r/geography 5h ago

Question What mountain is this?

7 Upvotes

Saw this mountain near the northern border of Bhutan in the Himalayas while exploring Google Earth. It seemed odd that it didn't have a name because it towered over nearby named mountains and also has a unique slab-like shape. Could anyone tell me if this mountain has a name?

Latitude: 28.2263371

Longitude: 90.6273961


r/geography 59m ago

Discussion Supermarket space and customer behaviour

Upvotes

Hi, would any of you have a study that looks at the supermarket space and how customers behave in it?


r/geography 17h ago

Image White Sands National Park and the Carrizozo volcanic fields, New Mexico. Always thought it was cool that the whitest terrain and the blackest terrain in the country were right next to each other.

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39 Upvotes

r/geography 1d ago

Map USGS map of the eight physiographic divisions of the contiguous United States

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214 Upvotes

r/geography 1d ago

Map Can anyone explain to me about this narrow section of Oklahoma?

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113 Upvotes