Geography Awareness Week (November 14 – 20) is here! Launched in 1987 by presidential proclamation, the weeklong celebration promotes geoliteracy in the United States.
We should probably focus on the promoting and hold off on the celebrating.
In a 2006 National Geographic survey of 18- to 24-year-olds across the U.S., more respondents knew where the TV show CSI is set than could find Iraq on a map, even though U.S. troops have been there since 2003. Twenty percent of respondents thought that Sudan was in Asia, and half of them couldn't find New York on a map.
Though geography is far more than being able to find countries or continents on a map, this basic knowledge is a good start in our quest for a wider understanding of the world.
Convinced you would do better? Try this online geography quiz to see how you fare, or check out our mini-quiz if you're pressed for time.
See also
More than maps: on a broader definition of geography
Maps in the Oval Office: the progress of geography education
Where data meet design: spam maps, Science on a Sphere, and zombie survival charts
Image is a map of Pangaea, the supercontinent that existed about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration. Continents were a lot harder to identify back then.