# 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:** 50
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/984 "2026-07-24T12:59:03Z")
I actually saw this question in a Youtube video of a guy who asks his (I assume) coworkers various questions (generally geography). His preferred answer was Kiribati (which no one got) but said he would have reluctantly accepted France (which apparently also no one got). ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/985 "2026-07-24T13:04:41Z")
I think that’s correct too. Additional interesting data, France’s largest land border is with… Brazil. (Unless you consider French Guiana a “colonial possession” and not a part of France proper, but let’s not open that can of worms) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/986 "2026-07-24T13:08:25Z")
It might have started out as a colonial possession, but now it’s part of France in the same way that Alaska is part of the US. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/987 "2026-07-24T13:15:01Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I actually saw this question in a Youtube video of a guy who asks his (I assume) coworkers That’s where I saw it too. I guessed France as well but I like the Kiribati answer better. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/988 "2026-07-24T13:16:30Z")
Shame there’s not really a **[Null Island - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_Island)**. If there were, it’d be another correct answer. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/989 "2026-07-24T18:14:43Z")
nevermind ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/990 "2026-07-29T13:12:51Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Maybe they could talk to Journey about South Detroit. Or as it’s also known: Canada. (Windsor, Ontario) The other option would be to call the southernmost suburbs “South Detroit”, but those are pretty ritzy. Kind of ruins the “Just a city boy” image they were going for). ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/991 "2026-07-29T13:20:01Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I didn’t even know about Vancouver, WA, let alone where is existed. Saw a sweatshirt in the Pacific Northwest: VANCOUVER (not Canada) WASHINGTON (not the capital) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/992 "2026-07-29T13:26:30Z")
If I picture Lake Erie in my mind, I think of Cleveland as somewhere along the **eastern** half of the south shoreline, when in fact it is far along the **western** half. It’s because I mistakenly picture Lake Erie’s southern shoreline as comprising nearly all of the northern border of Ohio – and, conversely, nearly all of Ohio’s border comprising Lake Erie. Since I know that Cleveland is in northeastern Ohio, it must be near the eastern end of the lake, right? Wrong! (Looking at a map, I see that mainly I was underestimating the length of the New York shoreline along Lake Erie. It’s about sixty miles long! Thus, Lake Chautauqua and Jamestown - both in New York - are well south_west_ of Buffalo, not directly south as I’d assumed.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/993 "2026-07-29T14:00:48Z")
Note also that PA has some Erie shoreline too. For very round numbers Ohio only gets the western half of Erie’s south shore. It’s the bigger half, but not a much bigger half. Ohio also gets one half of the Michigan mitten’s base. And that base constitutes about 1/3rd of Ohio’s northern border, with the other 2/3rds being the Erie shoreline. It’s almost like they laid these states out with no thought to being regular, uniform, and simple to remember. 🤪 ---
**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:** [July 29, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/994 "2026-07-29T14:35:25Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Ohio also gets one half of the Michigan mitten’s base. And most of us think of the mitten base as a straight line, but it appears that the surveyors were fond of the corn squeezin’s, because one of them drew a line up from the south, telling the other two, "I’ll meet you at Michigan, one of them started from Illinois and the other from lake Erie, but the third guy showed up late (hungover, probably) and the other two had already met up 4 miles to the right of where he got to the Indiana line. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/995 "2026-07-29T14:50:11Z")
Which sloppy surveying led to the Toledo War, which did get as far as actual shots being fired, but the only casualty was one pig. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/996 "2026-07-29T14:55:34Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > If I picture Lake Erie in my mind, I think of Cleveland as somewhere along the **eastern** half of the south shoreline, when in fact it is far along the **western** half. As a Clevelander who regularly drives to both Windsor and Toronto, this one never got me. It takes me 2 hours to drive to Toledo, and three to Buffalo! ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/997 "2026-07-29T15:01:33Z")
See also the Pennsylvania-Delaware border: > **[Twelve-Mile Circle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Mile_Circle)** > > The Twelve-Mile Circle is an approximately circular arc that forms most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania. It is a combination of different circular arcs that have been feathered together. It is nominally a circle with a variable radius of approximately 12 miles (19 km) centered in the town of New Castle, Delaware. In 1750, the center of the circle was fixed at the cupola of the courthouse in New Castle. The Twelve-Mile Circle continues into the Delaware River. A small portion o... ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/998 "2026-07-29T16:25:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There are four hemispheres of the Earth that anyone ever talks about, northern, southern, eastern, and western. A reference to “all four hemispheres” means those four. I often ask fellow “Middle of Wisconsin”-ites if they realize they’re just a few miles from the center of the northern half of the western hemisphere. As a kid, I realized that I was just a bike ride away from 90º W, 45º N. It’s just outside Marathon City, which is a few miles west of Wausau. And now there’s a marker! [![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gps-cs-s/AHRPTWkoRAXR9TwEoLkFauzQJ6msaiwOHRIdl_r3ChfopI28tvf6vYFhhhAzRp70xEPU5MXi03SLlYXBnUZNKOZlzieiLoEtYPSxMYLDaCrNdJhfhADsLTOIAClFJrahn8ltwxwI3vrx=s1360-w1360-h1020) ](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gps-cs-s/AHRPTWkoRAXR9TwEoLkFauzQJ6msaiwOHRIdl_r3ChfopI28tvf6vYFhhhAzRp70xEPU5MXi03SLlYXBnUZNKOZlzieiLoEtYPSxMYLDaCrNdJhfhADsLTOIAClFJrahn8ltwxwI3vrx=s1360-w1360-h1020) [https://www.marathoncounty.gov/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/44/60](https://www.marathoncounty.gov/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/44/60) > There are only four 45° - 90° locations in the world. Two of these are located in oceans, one is located on a mountainous portion of China and one is located here in Central Wisconsin. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2026, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/999 "2026-07-29T16:26:03Z")
Which also leads to the discovery that Delaware has some bits of land on the far side of the Delaware (estuary, I think) which include at least 3 spits/jetties and a sizable chunk of land adjacent to the westernmost point of New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/1000 "2026-07-29T17:34:50Z")
> [@digs](#): > > one is located here in Central Wisconsin. But where are the nearest cheese curds? ---
**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:** [July 29, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/1001 "2026-07-29T18:02:18Z")
Huh. I just learned that Labrador is a provincial exclave. The province is called Newfoundland & Labrador, but you cannot get from one part to the other directly. The island part is separated from the mainland part by the Strait of Belle Isle, by about 16 or 17km at the narrowest, and there is a ferry that crosses the strait, but it lands in Quebec, so you cannot get between Newfoundland and Labrador without going through Quebec. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/1002 "2026-07-29T18:32:34Z")
The centerpoint of the contiguous US is Lebanon KS. If you draw a straight line from there to the nearest point in the UK, where is the centerpoint of that line? A: Francis Bay, Newfoundland ---
**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:** [July 29, 2026, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/1003 "2026-07-29T19:45:05Z")
That must be a complicated calculation based on land area being equal in each primary direction. When I do a Q&D calculation based on NSEW extremes, being defined as the farthest one can go and stand on solid ground – a rock off the Washington coast, Pt Quoddy Maine, an Island near the Florida Keys, the top of the NW Angle – and find the raw mathematical intersection, I land on a point near Cotton Valley Oklahoma some 250 miles SE of Lebanon. I assume the centerpoint is where, if you put the country on a needle, that is where it would theoretically balance, but if you count in topographical mass, it seems likely the balance point would be a ways west. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=49) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=51)