It is remarkable how much it resembles the medieval T&O maps, including putting Jerusalem and the Mediterranean at the center of the world. (Which is what Mediterranean means.) And the East at the top (where we get "orient" from).
"Orient" does not have anything to do with the top of the map. It refers to the rising of the sun ("oriens" in Latin means "rising", from orior, and "occidens" means "setting" when referring to the sun). Fun fact, the Greek word for orior is ἀνατέλλω and is where we ultimately get the word "Anatolia" from, since for the Greeks that's where the sun rises.
The obvious link between the two maps is neither has much concept of landmass size.The Americas are unknown in the first and unsatisfying imbalanced in the later map (Belize & El Salvadore, something must be done!). With all that in mind, it seems possible it could be a coincidence driven by similar constraints on both maps.
The only choice here seems to be whether the containing shape is a circle, a triangle or a square.
Since the creation of that map Canada and Denmark have gained a border (Hans Island). That barely registers on any traditional map but would dramatically rearrange this.
EDIT: Or maybe it wouldn’t? I don’t see Russia’s border with Lithuania and Poland reflected (due to Kaliningrad) so maybe only the “main” part of a country is considered?
Still doesn’t explain some things, like, why is Singapore (an island) shown on the map as having a border with Malaysia? Other countries connected by bridge or causeway (Denmark and Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain) aren’t shown as sharing a border.
I was wondering a few days ago, if for teaching geography, one might collect compelling images/stories, which combined, might weave a familiarity with the layout of the planet?
Commonplace, is Earth having a water hemisphere, and landed one. Or the now-distant but coupled shapes of South America and Africa. The rumpled bedsheets of the Indian plate collision. Then there's a green crescent of green China, SE Asia, and India, curved around a contrasting desert China and the Stans. Maybe China/Mongolia as a wedge inserted between Russian and SE Asia plus India, poking the Stans, injecting Silk Roads towards the Seas. The Blue Banana of Europe. Ring of Fire. Great Plains topographic funneling and tornados. Africa now desert and green, was khaki/green and less green, and Last Glacial Maximum was desert and dry.
Canada was my first guess, and I was able to get the rest of the Western hemisphere after that. I'm looking now for Portugal which i think should be pretty obvious, but I must be missing something.
Edit. Also, I was wondering why there was no French Guyana, but being part of France means it's not a separate country. However, in that case France should share a border with Brazil. I wonder what other such quirks are in this map.
I had a different strategy, starting with lots of connections, so I found Russia and China first. Albeit playing with a lot of mistakes.
I just did my first second-hand inference and it was satisfying. Turkey borders Bulgaria and Greece, don't know which is which, but those two both border North Macedonia, which was a correct guess.
In addition to sharing a land border with Brazil and Suriname (via French Guiana), France also shares a land border with the Netherlands… on the island of St Martin/Sint Maarten.
Also, there's a new land border between Canada and Denmark, and not depicted on this map, since the border did not formally come into existence until 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Island#Resolution
France also borders Suriname and Brazil at French Guiana, Spain borders the UK at Gibraltar (and Morocco at Ceuta and Melilla)… there’s lots of pub-quiz-winning ones sprinkled about!
I don't think that's true and Googling for it didn't come up with anything. Croatia and Montenegro do share a border but that must run afoul of the map creator's "no exclaves" rule as that bit of Croatia isn't contiguous with the rest of Croatia.
It is remarkable how much it resembles the medieval T&O maps, including putting Jerusalem and the Mediterranean at the center of the world. (Which is what Mediterranean means.) And the East at the top (where we get "orient" from).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_and_O_map
I am sure they knew that and the allusion is deliberate.
"Orient" does not have anything to do with the top of the map. It refers to the rising of the sun ("oriens" in Latin means "rising", from orior, and "occidens" means "setting" when referring to the sun). Fun fact, the Greek word for orior is ἀνατέλλω and is where we ultimately get the word "Anatolia" from, since for the Greeks that's where the sun rises.
The obvious link between the two maps is neither has much concept of landmass size.The Americas are unknown in the first and unsatisfying imbalanced in the later map (Belize & El Salvadore, something must be done!). With all that in mind, it seems possible it could be a coincidence driven by similar constraints on both maps.
The only choice here seems to be whether the containing shape is a circle, a triangle or a square.
Since the creation of that map Canada and Denmark have gained a border (Hans Island). That barely registers on any traditional map but would dramatically rearrange this.
EDIT: Or maybe it wouldn’t? I don’t see Russia’s border with Lithuania and Poland reflected (due to Kaliningrad) so maybe only the “main” part of a country is considered?
Looking at the author’s Reddit post apparently things like exclaves were intentionally omitted for simplicity’s sake.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/gxwn5r/oc_the_topo...
Still doesn’t explain some things, like, why is Singapore (an island) shown on the map as having a border with Malaysia? Other countries connected by bridge or causeway (Denmark and Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain) aren’t shown as sharing a border.
You just opened my mind. I was absolutely convinced that Singapore did share a land border somewhere.
I was wondering a few days ago, if for teaching geography, one might collect compelling images/stories, which combined, might weave a familiarity with the layout of the planet?
Commonplace, is Earth having a water hemisphere, and landed one. Or the now-distant but coupled shapes of South America and Africa. The rumpled bedsheets of the Indian plate collision. Then there's a green crescent of green China, SE Asia, and India, curved around a contrasting desert China and the Stans. Maybe China/Mongolia as a wedge inserted between Russian and SE Asia plus India, poking the Stans, injecting Silk Roads towards the Seas. The Blue Banana of Europe. Ring of Fire. Great Plains topographic funneling and tornados. Africa now desert and green, was khaki/green and less green, and Last Glacial Maximum was desert and dry.
TFA map is another.
Thoughts?
If you like this, you may like "Guess the countries just from what borders what" https://wilf.live/worldgraph/ (HN submission by the author wolfred: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44604511 sadly without too much traction 3 points | July 2025 | 2 comments)
[spoiler alert] Try finding Canada
Canada was my first guess, and I was able to get the rest of the Western hemisphere after that. I'm looking now for Portugal which i think should be pretty obvious, but I must be missing something.
Edit. Also, I was wondering why there was no French Guyana, but being part of France means it's not a separate country. However, in that case France should share a border with Brazil. I wonder what other such quirks are in this map.
I had a different strategy, starting with lots of connections, so I found Russia and China first. Albeit playing with a lot of mistakes.
I just did my first second-hand inference and it was satisfying. Turkey borders Bulgaria and Greece, don't know which is which, but those two both border North Macedonia, which was a correct guess.
In addition to sharing a land border with Brazil and Suriname (via French Guiana), France also shares a land border with the Netherlands… on the island of St Martin/Sint Maarten.
Also, there's a new land border between Canada and Denmark, and not depicted on this map, since the border did not formally come into existence until 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Island#Resolution
Curiously, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) is capitalized eSwatini, as if it is an e-commerce site.
In siSwati it is known as eSwatini
The Netherlands and France share a border on the island of Saint Martin
France also borders Suriname and Brazil at French Guiana, Spain borders the UK at Gibraltar (and Morocco at Ceuta and Melilla)… there’s lots of pub-quiz-winning ones sprinkled about!
The map clearly says that it ignores exclaves.
Reminds me of some custom Diplomacy maps
Notably Oman, and Iran border seperate bodies of water.
That would make things a lot simpler.
[Edit, I stand corrected, there's a little bit that goes up to Iran and nips off a corner)]
I really like this and may have to try to make a poster.
This is super cool. I'd love to see it in a vintage style like that of old T-O maps!
Albania and Bosnia share a small border
I don't think that's true and Googling for it didn't come up with anything. Croatia and Montenegro do share a border but that must run afoul of the map creator's "no exclaves" rule as that bit of Croatia isn't contiguous with the rest of Croatia.
Yourube search for strange borders. The number of enclaves is staggering. Upon further inspection... fail.
The map explicitly says that it ignores exclaves.
A zionist map is one where Israel is in the center.