# Countries All People SHOULD be able to point out on a Map. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 29, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721 "2008-09-29T15:29:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/41 "2008-09-29T22:54:33Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > All of them. Anything less than 90% on a name and location geography test is unacceptable. Unacceptable how? I’d wager the vast majority of even highly-educated people would be unable to meet this challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/42 "2008-09-29T23:03:24Z")
**MUST/SIZE:** [ul] [li]Canada[/li][li]America[/li][li]Russia[/li][li]China[/li][/ul]Due to size alone. At least know what the big blobs of color are. **MUST/IMPACT:** [ul] [li]Iraq[/li][li]Iran[/li][li]Israel[/li][li]Afghanistan[/li][li]Pakistan[/li][li]Mexico[/li][/ul]Sheer geopolitical importance. The fact many of them are smooshed together and the last shares a border should make this easy. **MUST/HISTORY:** [ul] [li]UK/Ireland[/li][li]France[/li][li]Germany[/li][li]Spain/Portugal[/li][li]Italy[/li][/ul]These countries had the biggest impact on our history for the last 500 years and they were all vital in the last 50. As for ‘shoulds’, well, I think everyone _should_ know at least what continent every country is on. We can’t afford to be geographically incontinent. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/43 "2008-09-29T23:13:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ll admit that I have a little difficulty with Germany. I know it’s bordering and generally east of France, but there aren’t really any obvious landmarks to mark the borders. It’s the big blob in the dead center of Europe. It wears Denmark like a little scandahoovian hat. The fact it borders both France and Poland should tell you things about its history. > [@](#): > > And I know that one corner of the west coast of the Iberian peninsula is part of Spain and the rest is Portugal, but I can never remember whether the Spanish corner is to the north with Portugal nestled to the south of it, or the other way around. I guess I can’t visualize what you’re saying, but Spain is most of the Iberian peninsula (only it and a speck called Andorra touch France on the south) and Portugal hangs off the western edge, like a hungry little maritime nation should. The kind of nation that would sponsor crazy voyages to Africa and the New World. (Oh, and the very southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula is Gibraltar, which is British and serves mainly to cause the Royal Marines to accidentally invade Spain.) ---
**Author:** ![kenner116](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/44 "2008-09-29T23:17:13Z")
Uzbekistan. That’s all you need to know. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/45 "2008-09-29T23:34:53Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Unacceptable how? I’d wager the vast majority of even highly-educated people would be unable to meet this challenge. It is rapidly becoming a very small world, and nutcases in Uganda, Weganda or Theyganda can affect our daily lives very easily. It behooves any aware person to know, at the very least, where on the planet these little pipsquak nations are, if for no other reason than to gauge where the fallout will drift if we nuke them off said planet. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/46 "2008-09-30T00:06:36Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It is rapidly becoming a very small world, and nutcases in Uganda, Weganda or Theyganda can affect our daily lives very easily. It behooves any aware person to know, at the very least, where on the planet these little pipsquak nations are, if for no other reason than to gauge where the fallout will drift if we nuke them off said planet. Obviously you are forgetting about all those annoying Stan countries. ---
**Author:** ![Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crocodiles_And_Boulevards)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/47 "2008-09-30T01:12:33Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > I should clarify that this listing of counrties is meant to include your average person any place in the world. > > Ignoring immediate neighbors, which countries they should know. Wait, wait. If it’s the average person ANY place in the world, then why is this list so Euro-Americancentric? Clearly the billions of people NOT in the West will have a different list for the “musts.” ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/48 "2008-09-30T02:16:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ll admit that I have a little difficulty with Germany. I know it’s bordering and generally east of France, but there aren’t really any obvious landmarks to mark the borders. Likewise for several other Eastern European countries. And I know that one corner of the west coast of the Iberian peninsula is part of Spain and the rest is Portugal, but I can never remember whether the Spanish corner is to the north with Portugal nestled to the south of it, or the other way around. > > But there’s no excuse whatsoever for not recognizing, say, Italy. The landmark is pointy, France sticks into Germany (or are we talking about an utterly unbordered map?). It’s actually really easy to identify these countries: Portugal Spain France Germany Poland The Ukraine Russia\* By drawing an arc starting in the left of Portugal (bottom left “tip” of the European Peninsula), that tops off around the Baltic (where Germany and Poland meet their upper corners), and ends around the Caspian sea. \*Come on, you could throw a DART at a map and probably ID Russia. Also: 7 continents? I thought It was 6 now (didn’t they officially merge Europe and Asia into Eurasia or is it still one of those selective things where you can go either way?) ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/49 "2008-09-30T02:28:24Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Also: 7 continents? I thought It was 6 now (didn’t they officially merge Europe and Asia into Eurasia or is it still one of those selective things where you can go either way?) No, it’s that Europe is now a dwarf continent. D&R ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/50 "2008-09-30T02:39:26Z")
> [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](#): > > Wait, wait. If it’s the average person ANY place in the world, then why is this list so Euro-Americancentric? Clearly the billions of people NOT in the West will have a different list for the “musts.” True this, its one of my biases. But you could substitute some of the “should” knows to the “must” knows depending on region. These two lists are “pretty” interchangable. One thing to note, part of the reason I chose the countries I chose is because if you were to see a map without names and were to base your labeling of each country solely on the borders, the ones I mentioned should be obvious. I believe for a person who has not studied geography a little bit would confuse the location of China and possiby India as well. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/51 "2008-09-30T02:53:13Z")
I don’t WANT any Americans to be able to point out Holland on a map. Holland is the third exporter of agricultural produce in the world, if you count financial value, and we are also a major ex-colonial power. Belgium, South Africa, Surinam and Indonesia all have Dutch as first or second language. Yet all Americans who DO look us up on a map, are surprised we’re so VERY tiny, (the size of Massacuchets) and consequently they think we should tone it down a bit. 🙂 Okay, we may be the size of Massachusets, but we’ve got about the population of New York. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/52 "2008-09-30T03:08:04Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Holland is the third exporter of agricultural produce in the world Yeah, but how much of that is even legal here? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/53 "2008-09-30T03:22:15Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > **MUST/SIZE:** > [ul] > [li]Canada[/li][li]America[/li][li]Russia[/li][li]China[/li][/ul]Due to size alone. At least know what the big blobs of color are. > > **MUST/IMPACT:** > [ul] > [li]Iraq[/li][li]Iran[/li][li]Israel[/li][li]Afghanistan[/li][li]Pakistan[/li][li]Mexico[/li][/ul]Sheer geopolitical importance. The fact many of them are smooshed together and the last shares a border should make this easy. > > **MUST/HISTORY:** > [ul] > [li]UK/Ireland[/li][li]France[/li][li]Germany[/li][li]Spain/Portugal[/li][li]Italy[/li][/ul]These countries had the biggest impact on our history for the last 500 years and they were all vital in the last 50. > > As for ‘shoulds’, well, I think everyone _should_ know at least what continent every country is on. We can’t afford to be geographically incontinent. This list is for Americans, not “anyone”. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/54 "2008-09-30T03:38:57Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > True this, its one of my biases. But you could substitute some of the “should” knows to the “must” knows depending on region. > > These two lists are “pretty” interchangable. > > One thing to note, part of the reason I chose the countries I chose is because if you were to see a map without names and were to base your labeling of each country solely on the borders, the ones I mentioned should be obvious. > > I believe for a person who has not studied geography a little bit would confuse the location of China and possiby India as well. your reply itself is still very biased. how can one possibly miss China or India? they’re so big! even on a map without labels you cannot miss India with its distinctive coastlines and China bordered with neighbours you can’t possibly mistake: Russia (it’s even bigger!); Mongolia sandwiched between the two; the islands of Korea, Japan and Taiwan sitting off the coast; Vietnam grabbing the coastline below China. and Spain. why the love for Spain? what has it done in recent history that puts it so distinctively ahead of China? i understand that this is a US board\* and am ok with terminology that defaults all and sundry to be Americans, but it’s not ok to \*insist \*on including everyone when you’re not actually doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/55 "2008-09-30T03:53:10Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Why not? Are they lesser human beings because their country is so small? 😃 > > Ok, I’ll be generous. Any country larger than…Guyana. How’s that? That takes out most of the island nations, as well as some of the more cluttered parts of Western Africa. I am about 99% certain that I could name the right continent for any country you can name. Exact location? Maybe not, but for sure within a country or two. I think that that should pass for the average citizen. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/56 "2008-09-30T04:09:25Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Yeah, but how much of that is even legal here? 😉 Tulips were legalised in 1947. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/57 "2008-09-30T04:16:17Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > This list is for Americans, not “anyone”. OK, make your own list. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/58 "2008-09-30T04:18:45Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Unacceptable how? I’d wager the vast majority of even highly-educated people would be unable to meet this challenge. Yeah. I’d be able to get through all of Europe at 100%, and all of the -stans and former U.S.S.R. countries (and even a bunch of disputed and not officially recognized territories like Transnistria), but once I hit Africa and some of Southeast Asia (and pretty much the entire Caribbean), I’m fucked. (And, looking at a map of Central America, I just realized I’d probably flunk that test, too.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/59 "2008-09-30T04:26:52Z")
I can specifically locate every country in the world except those of the former Yugoslavia and the countries of west and central Africa. I would expect that anyone else should be able to do so as well. Some territories and small island countries may be a problem for me as well. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721/60 "2008-09-30T04:50:36Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > I can specifically locate every country in the world except those of the former Yugoslavia and the countries of west and central Africa. I would expect that anyone else should be able to do so as well. Why would you expect things that are so manifestly not the case? I mean, bully for you and all, but you seem to be getting along fine without the countries of west and central Africa. Plenty of people get along similarly fine without South America, and/or without eastern Asia, and/or whatever. Can you specifically locate every state in India? It’s just as useful… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countries-all-people-should-be-able-to-point-out-on-a-map/465721.md?page=4)