# Your geographical misconceptions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 30, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294 "2020-12-30T20:58:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/61 "2020-12-31T18:07:45Z")
I might well have been attending Northwestern before I fully appreciated that Chicago wasn’t in Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/62 "2020-12-31T18:25:08Z")
Until recently I had the idea that the Rock of Gibraltar was an island. I blame my misconception on seeing all those _“get a piece of the rock”_ Prudential commercials as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/63 "2020-12-31T22:11:40Z")
I have no explanation for this one but. I’m good at geography. I aced a class on contemporary Africa in college. Yet you mention East(earn) Africa and my mind automatically puts Nigeria there. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2020, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/64 "2020-12-31T22:20:26Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > In a similar vein, Maine is the closest US state to Africa, and the northernmost point of Brazil is closer to Canada than it is to the southernmost point of Brazil. Speaking of Brazil, I remember being quite surprised to learn that Brazil is bigger (i.e. has more landmass) than the continental United States. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/65 "2020-12-31T22:44:03Z")
I’m always surprised how far south Canada goes. Ottawa is at the same latitude as Milan. There’s also the Edinburgh is west of Bristol thing. And I once calculated that on the June solstice the sun sets in Rio de Janeiro before it sets in London. Brazil goes a long way east. And it gets pretty close to the Pacific, too. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/66 "2020-12-31T22:56:01Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Texas is so big, if you flipped it on it’s western point, the eastern edge would reach the Pacific, and if you flipped it on it’s eastern edge, the western point would reach the Atlantic. I have not had the pleasure of driving across the Lone Star state, but I hear it goes on and on. “The sun has riz, the sun is set And here we are, in Texas yet.” (Burma-Shave?) Probably not, but it’s an old saw about how long it takes to drive across this state. On that note, El Paso is closer to LA than it is to Houston. Edit: and San Diego too, as noted by @Ruken. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/67 "2020-12-31T22:58:24Z")
I once drove 400km north from Toronto to Sudbury. Along the route you pass over the 45th parallel. I remember thinking, “I’m halfway to the North Pole!” It certainly felt like a long, arduous drive, given how crappy my car was. But the 45th parallel is below Seattle. Below Sioux Saint Marie. And almost all of Europe north of Spain is above the 45th parallel, leaving nothing but open ocean and Antarctica. Contrarily, 45 degrees south cuts through only the southern tips of South America and New Zealand. Speaking of which, back in the 1950s, Jimmy Olson got a super-brain and told Superman to dig a hole in Antarctica and move millions of tons of junk from the North to fill it up. Why? Some writer looked at the globe, saw how uneven the land distribution was, and thought that it made the whole Earth unstable unless Superman put it right. A story plot and a geography lesson in eight pages. Those were the Good Old Days. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/68 "2020-12-31T23:16:31Z")
> [@Dinoguy](#): > > where the heck is Belarus? The former Soviet States, and the former Yugoslavia, and the former Czechoslovakia are all things that went over my head when they reformed back to their individual countries. Nobody sat down with me and explained what had happened and what it meant and what their names were. I feel it should have been taught in schools, or in documentaries aimed at ignorant folk like me. It was years after that I looked at the map of Europe and saw all these countries I had never heard of before, and it took a while before I started to piece it together. But the jigsaw of them all has never settled in my brain. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/69 "2020-12-31T23:20:28Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Contrarily, 45 degrees south cuts through only the southern tips of South America and New Zealand. It was just up the road from my High School. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/70 "2020-12-31T23:24:17Z")
I’ve driven from just north of Windsor to Thunder Bay. It’s a long, long drive. Ontario is not a small province. I don’t recommend it in one trip, no matter how beautiful Lake Superior is. I might have seen the face of God. 😉 Coulda been worse - didn’t have to go to Kenora, and it was late spring. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/71 "2020-12-31T23:28:29Z")
I’m always amazed at how much of New Jersey is north of NYC. It just feels like you should travel north from NJ to get to NYC, but in fact, for a considerable portion of the NJ population, NYC is due east (or even south-east) of them. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/72 "2020-12-31T23:30:04Z")
I think one geographical misconception a lot of people have is thinking that North and South America lie on a fairly directly north-south axis. The reality is South America is much further to the east than North America. If you started in Tampa, Florida and traveled straight south you would miss South America’s western coast. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/73 "2020-12-31T23:31:42Z")
California always befuddles me. I was born in a town in eastern Oregon about 30 miles from the Snake (Idaho border) which is on almost the exact same meridian as San Diego. And a flight from Seattle (Sea-Tac) to Honolulu is only about 130 miles longer than a flight from LAX to Honolulu because Seattle is so much farther west. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/74 "2021-01-01T00:01:19Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > And a flight from Seattle (Sea-Tac) to Honolulu is only about 130 miles longer than a flight from LAX to Honolulu because Seattle is so much farther west. Even more befuddling to many people: A flight from San Francisco to Honolulu is actually _shorter_ than a flight from LAX. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/75 "2021-01-01T00:36:40Z")
I was surprised when we flew from LAX to Seoul theat we flew up the coastline then over the ocean then more or less down the coastline instead of straight across. I find it weird that [This](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/45%C3%9790_points) is in Wisconsin. I stopped at it once or twice. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/76 "2021-01-01T00:39:29Z")
The first time I traveled to Brazil, I was amused to learn that it was 3 hours ahead of US East. I realized that the Western Hemisphere in my mind was rotated counterclockwise so that North and South America were lined up. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/77 "2021-01-01T00:41:01Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Korea is in the wrong place. It should be somewhere between Hong Kong and SE Asia. Which, it turns out, is where Hainan is. I think I must have had them confused all this time. For a long time, I thought that Korea was down by Vietnam. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/78 "2021-01-01T00:41:57Z")
I assumed my home town of Edmonton would be about the same latitude as northern Scotland, and north of Oslo and Stockholm as well. In fact it’s about the latitude as Liverpool, Manchester and Hamburg. And the Scandinavian capitals are much, much farther north. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/79 "2021-01-01T00:51:36Z")
This article shows “the most accurate world map ever made” (using a newish technique for translatong spheres). It shows the correct orientation of the Americas, which is surprising. > **[This Is The Most Accurate Map of The World Ever Produced](https://www.intelligentliving.co/most-accurate-map-of-the-world/amp/)** > > The world map you have been using since you were a child is wrong The AuthaGraph World Map is the most accurate map ever made. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/80 "2021-01-01T00:56:21Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Speaking of which, back in the 1950s, Jimmy Olson got a super-brain and told Superman to dig a hole in Antarctica and move millions of tons of junk from the North to fill it up. Why? Some writer looked at the globe, saw how uneven the land distribution was, and thought that it made the whole Earth unstable unless Superman put it right. A story plot and a geography lesson in eight pages. Those were the Good Old Days. I remember reading that one when I was a kid! (meaning it must have been in the 60s) Anyway, I was very impressed with that plot device, and then a few _decades_ later I realized: Moving even a few _ **hundred** _ mountains to Antarctica is _not_ going to make an appreciable difference in how lopsided the hemispheres are. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=5)