Geography in America

Americans are abysmally ignorant when it comes to geography. And I'm not talking about real geography, which has a whole lot more to do with the world than just identifying countries, capitols, large-scale geological features and their placements on maps. I'd be happy if people knew what the capitol of France is!

So I'm rereading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geography. Just to refresh my memory. And in the beginning of the book, there is a basic quiz, to get some idea of your knowledge.There is a map with countries marked by Roman numerals and then the following questions:

1. This country used to comprise the bulk of theSoviet Union: find Russia
a. ix

2. This country has the second largest population on Earth: find India
a.xv

3. This country was the stomping ground for Evita Perón, the subject of a recent hit movie: find Argentina

a. v

4. When a United Stgates teenager was caned for vandalising a car, this country was in hte news: find Singapore

a. xviii

5. This country's invasion of Kuwaitresulted in Operation Desert Storm: find Iraq
a. xi

6.Much of the world's rain forest and its largest river by volume are located in this country: find Brazil

a. iv

7. Those pesky Kiwis have helped to smash U.S. dominance of America's Cup in yachting: find New Zealand

a. xxiii

8. The United Nations recently took on warlords in this impoverished country: find Somalia

a. xiii

9. When the Berlin Wall finally came down, the world rejoiced: find Germany
a. vii

10. A volcanic eruption forced the United States to close the huge Clark Air Force base in this country: find the Phillipines

a. xx

My answers: Their answers:
1. C C
2. B B
3. C C
4. C D OK, I'm not good on where Singapore is!
5. A A
6. B B
7. D D
8. A A
9. C C
10. D D

Not bad for someone who has never taken a geography class! At least I can say I'm a citizen of the planet Terra, rather than being so insular as to only my own country of origin and/or residence. But I suspect most people that I could show this to would not know the answers to the questions or where those countries are!

I worry about this. Maybe geography is not your favourite subject, but one should still have a basic knowledge of the planet they live on. I have a funny feeling most could not live the oceans or seas and there are not that many of them (Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Artic Ocean)!

The planet is 71% water, which right there should make land-based geography really easy. You only have to deal with the 29% that is land. When you consider the size of Russia, The United States, China and Brazil, then you have narrowed down the remaining land considerably. If you make it into four quadrants (Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern Hemispheres) this gets even easier! How about continents? Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Antarctica - again, the world is not that scary.

There are 192 countries. I've worked for companies that had 300 employees and I knew all of their names, marital status, number of dependents and working status. I think memorising the names and locations of most if not all 192 countries would be quite simple.

I expect a certain amount of ignorance when it comes to the African continent - even I don't know all of the 55 or so countries there. I know... let's see... Mauritania, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Congo, Tanazania, Ethiopia, Egypt, Butska (sp?), Madagascar, Namibia, Cameroon... not many. I wouldn't brag about this, but most people may not have gotten that far!

Yikes.