Expanding awareness of geography through travel
Ko Chang, Thailand
One morning on Ko Chang, Thailand, while sitting by the sea and preparing to breakfast on a pineapple pancake and a pineapple shake, I read a puzzling line in Simon Winchester’s book Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1863. Winchester pointed out that the 1969 film Krakatoa: East of Java contains a glaring geographical error in its title. Krakatoa, you see, is actually west of Java.
Americans in general—not just the occasional Hollywood title maker—are known for being weak on geography. The results of a 2006 survey sponsored by the National Geographic Society illustrate the problem. Despite all the media coverage since 2001, nine out of ten Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 couldn’t find Afghanistan on a map. Three out of four couldn’t find Indonesia (despite the widespread tsunami coverage a year earlier), and the same percentage was unaware that most Indonesians are Muslim (making it the world’s largest Muslim country).
One of the benefits of travel isn’t just that one can read a book while drinking a pineapple shake by the sea; it is that one can grow in geographical awareness. I’ve always considered myself fairly knowledgeable when it comes to geography, but with each trip I make I learn something new and feel a sense of wonder as my mental map expands. I relish how a week in Kyrgyzstan taught me how to actually spell “Kyrgyzstan,” or how a visit to Panama drove home that when one enters the Panama Canal from the Caribbean, he’s not moving east to west but northwest to southeast. I love how, after a month in Colombia, I no longer see the vague outline of an unfamiliar country but the defined shape of a nation whose major cities I know and can place on a map. And I appreciate how actually visiting the West Bank showed me the network of roads and checkpoints, the close proximity of Jewish settlements and Palestinian villages, so that the conflict is now anything but abstract.
In the spirit of learning, and with hopes for better results on the next National Geographic survey, please share something geographic you’ve learned through travel!
December 10th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I agree with you Joel. It’s something that you can’t really internalize through just reading a book or taking a test. When you travel, a place becomes a part of you. It has made an impact on your soul and you’ll carry it with you forever. You can’t get rid of a memory, you know? By the way, if you want a really big shocker you should go to Israel. So much history in that tiny country. When I walked around Jerusalem for the first time I was actually connecting all those (admittedly boring) Bible readings to a physical place. It’s not so boring anymore when you’ve internalized a place that is a holy mecca for 3 major religions. You look one way… That’s where Jesus was crucified. You look the other way, that’s where Muhammad ascended to heaven. You look yet another place, that’s where the Jewish temples were destroyed.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Thanks for this, Joel. I had no idea just how intermingled the West Bank really is, nor that the Panama canal twists around. I took the NatGeo test and did not do as well as I would have liked, but still better than the majority, I’m sure. In addition to the stats you recounted, I was surprised at how many people didn’t know that Mandarin was the most spoken language, or that the Alps weren’t in the U.S.
I’m reading another Simon Winchester book at the moment myself, The River at the Center of the World, and it’s fascinating how huge the Yangtze is (3915 miles, about 800 more miles than the U.S. is wide), and the variation of climate that it passes through.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Thanks for the input, Ted and BandleDesign. Ted, you’re reading a book that’s on my list! As for Israel and Palestine, it is indeed a place of tremendous geographic density. I remember as a kid thinking of Bethlehem and Jerusalem as being much farther apart than they actually are. Now I know you can walk between the two cities in just 90 minutes.
Fact Check, I apologize if I came across that way to you; certainly not my intent.
December 12th, 2009 at 6:54 am
the same percentage was unaware that most Indonesians are Muslim (making it the world’s largest Muslim country).
Bowflex
December 16th, 2009 at 12:14 am
I feel like I was the last person in the world to learn that the Leaning Tower of Pisa is IN Pisa, Italy. I had heard of the tower and seen photos of its leaning glory, of course, but never had real reason to consider that perhaps there was a place somewhere in the world called Pisa, though now it seems like it should have been obvious. When I accepted a friend’s invitation to visit her in Tuscany and started booking a flight to Pisa, it slowly dawned on me that I was headed to THE Pisa.