Questions tagged [geography]
Science describing Earth and in wider understanding also other planets and moons. The other meaning refers to specific climate and terrain properties in particular place.
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Why are the roads in the Fucino Plateau misaligned by 1.2 degrees compared to the cardinal directions?
The Fucino Plateau, in central Italy, is a wide plain arising from the drainage of the Fucino Lake in the late 1800s.
Looking at it in google maps, its fields are separated by roads set in a precise ...
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What evidence exists for the historical name of Kuwohi Mountain (formerly Clingmans Dome)?
Recently in the United States, The U.S. Board of Geographic Names approved changing the official name of Clingmans Dome to Kuwohi. For those unfamiliar, this mountain sits in the Great Smoky Mountains ...
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What were the areas of European countries in 1936 and 1949?
Are there sources (e.g. gazetteers or encyclopedia) that list the precise areas of the different European countries in ~1936 (before Germany's Anschluß with Austria), and again in ~1949 (after the ...
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Who was the first person to get a more accurate measure of the earth's circumference than Eratosthenes?
When researching a paper on Eratosthenes for class I saw that one of his major accomplishments was the first more or less accurate measure of the earth's circumference,only between −2.4% and +0.8% off....
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When did swamp/wetland conversion first begin, and what were the early methods for doing so?
I have been trying to do some research into the early history of humans using wetlands, but haven't had much luck. As I understand it so far, there are a number of methods of "wetland conversion&...
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Is there any evidence to support the claim that Richard Burton told John Speke he would return home via Jerusalem after their Nile Quest?
The book "Explorers of the Nile: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Great Victorian Adventure" by Tim Jeal contradicts with every other books I read regarding the dispute between Richard Burton ...
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Did 15th century Europeans not know about south-east Asia?
Columbus headed west across the Atlantic expecting to reach India, and initially thought that he had landed there.
His latitude for India was correct, but even if his estimates of distance and the ...
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Where is Hermodontus?
In Le liber censuum de l'église romaine, Volume 6, pages 96-97, at the very end of the first and start of the latter, it says:
As I understand them, from all of what I've read and seen up until now, ...
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Where was Arielis?
In his book Panarion, Epiphanius of Salamis writes about a Jewish sect called the Osseans. Among other bits of information, he writes:
"ἀπὸ τῆς Ναβατικῆς χώρας καὶ Ἰτουραίας, Μωαβίτιδός τε καὶ ...
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Were there duststorms in Louisiana in the 1930's?
I am researching the dust-bowl era of the US, and am wondering if the dust-bowl impacted Louisiana. I know it was mostly in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico etc. But I am wondering if it is plausible for a ...
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Where were the best ancient wine regions in Israel, called Kerutim & Hatoulim in the Mishna, located on a map?
I have not been able to find these locations that are mentioned in the Mishna. I came across this quote from Asaph Goor:
The Mishna also (Menahot, 8, 6) points to the regions where the best wine-...
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Were there any watermills within sailing distance of the sea?
Watermills were widely used in times when river transport was even considerably more economically important than it is now. This sometimes led to conflict between these two uses of a river, e.g.
The ...
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What was the error in 1790, if any, of the lat. and long. of Greenwich Observatory of 1783?
A YouTube video by Brady Haran, Mapping the Meridians - Objectivity 97, ended in a cliff hanger (the answer not found by Brady, and Keith Moore of The Royal Society). It's with regard to the Anglo-...
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Why was the northern boundary of the Mongol empire set where it was?
The Question
By the latter part of the 13th century, the Mongols' frantic territorial expansion was losing momentum. In the east, their empire reached the Pacific, and their efforts to conquer Japan ...
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Did pre-16th century Europeans call the Pacific Ocean the Atlantic?
If some Europeans visited China in antiquity by sailing around India and into the Pacific Ocean, did they give a name for that ocean other than the Indian Ocean? From what I understand, they thought ...
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Did Aztecs know how many continents there are on earth?
I was leafing through an old French magazine, Historia, and read something that caught my attention. The author of a small article on Aztecs games mentionned a god, Xochipilli Macuilxochitl, who was ...
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When and why did "Near East" become "Middle East?"
Wikipedia:
The Middle East is a transcontinental region in Afro-Eurasia which
generally includes Western Asia (except for Transcaucasia), all of
Egypt (mostly in North Africa), and Turkey (partly in ...
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Did Spanish missions block exploration of South America?
According to The river sea : the Amazon in history, myth, and legend, page 112,
In any study of these wild regions [of South America], one is constantly astounded, even moved, regardless of one's ...
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Since when is the Nile Delta known as "Delta"?
It is common knowledge that the Nile delta looks roughly triangular in form, hence roughly like a greek capital delta (especially when on a map oriented with the south on top). According to wikipedia, ...
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Which mountain collapsed in France in 1820/21?
In his commentary on Job 28:7, Rabbi Meir Leibush Malbim (1809-1879) writes (my translation):
In 5581 (1820/21) a tall mountain in France collapsed, and left behind a deep chasm full of water. This ...
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For whom would this priest write a long geographical report on his parish?
In 1777, the assistant pastor of Tamazula, Nueva Vizcaya composed a detailed report on the local geography, climate, natural history, and mineralogy, listing the many plants and animals and few ...
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When and how was the cairn structure in the "Sea of Galilee" covered in water?
In 2013 Israeli researchers from Tel Aviv university discovered a large cairn, buried under the water of the freshwater lake "Sea of Galilee" in northern part of state of Israel:
Researchers find ...
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What do we know about the location of Islamic schools in pre-colonial Africa?
There is much research in history and social science on how Christian missionary schools changed the formation of human capital in Africa, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. However, I find very little ...
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Where on a modern map are these areas of Ptolemy's map?
This is a 15th century representation of Ptolemy's map depicting the 'known world' back then based on his work 'Geography'. I would like to know where the area I enclosed in red is bounded by as per ...
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Where can I find a blank outline of Silk Road routes?
I am looking for a blank outline map of Silk Road routes from the Pacific to Europe including African and European cities and outposts. Ideally the route(s) will be pre-drawn. Students label cities/...
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Why did Chrstianity spread so easily? [closed]
Looking around the world, Christianity has spread to practically every corner. Christians are everywhere from South America to Australia to Korea. Even with Christian missionaries going all over the ...
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Why do China and India have such huge populations? [closed]
Assuming growth is constant in all locations (which I know it's not), I don't see why China and India are so populous. Europe has a slightly larger land area than China, but it's population is ...
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Where were Hindus and Sattagydia in the late Achaemenid Empire?
I found two maps that show territorial composition of Achaemenid Empire around 500 BC:
While there are other significant differences between them (because of historical sources scarcity), the most ...
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When did the spherical shape of the Earth become common knowledge?
It's well-known that intellectuals in the West have accepted a spherical Earth since antiquity, but I'm not sure how long it took for this to become common knowledge, worldwide. So a more concrete ...
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Did pre-Columbian Americans know the spherical shape of the Earth?
The Maya are known for their astronomy and mathematics, most notably their famous calculation of the length of a year. I was surprised to learn that they supported a flat Earth model, though to be ...
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Are there any sources of historical land use/land cover data for the United Kingdom and Ireland?
Are there any sources of historical land use/land cover data for the United Kingdom and Ireland? (Not just Northern Ireland) I'm specifically interested in datasets that, for each point/area in the UK/...
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What is the earliest mention of an estimate of 71% water (or 70.8%) / 29% land (or 29.2%)?
According to the U.S. Geological Survey's article How much water is there on, in, and above the Earth?,
About 71 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered
Wikipedia's Earth article also ...
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When did "Africa" become the name of the whole continent?
I learned from wiki that Africa was the name of a Roman province during Roman times, and that the continent was divided into Libya, Egypt and Ethiopia.
So when did Africa become the name of the ...
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How area of a country used to be calculated?
Before satellites and other modern techniques, how the area of countries/territories/regions used to be calculated?
I can understand that plotting boundaries is an easier task, even without the ...
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Have there been any instances of US states trading land, not related to the creation of a state?
Have there been any instances where one US state has exchanged or ceded land to another US state, subject to the conditions below? If so, what led the exchange?
Conditions:
I'm asking about states, ...
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Did ancient or medieval people know about underground rivers/lakes?
If they did, did they utilize them for farming? If so, how would they?
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Why was the Cold War carried out over the whole world instead of between Siberia and Alaska?
I was wondering why the conflicts, missile deployments etc. throughout the Cold War were basically all taking place in Europe, Africa and Asia, when in fact the US and Soviet Union were only separated ...
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Are there any ideas as to what the English landscape was like before the arrival of the Angles?
I am not sure if this question is within the guidelines (it may be), but I am curious as to this: In North America, for instance, it is often said it was heavily forested and that a squirrel could get ...
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What was the name for the region before it was "the Balkans"?
I'm working on a project set in the 15th century as the Ottoman Turks made forays into the West.
I'm looking for an appropriate term for the region bordered by Anatolia, Romania and Bulgaria to the ...
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What was an upper and a lower region?
What made a region an upper, or superior region, or a lower, or inferior region?
Examples:
Upper and Lower Egypt
Upper and Lower Austria
Moesia Superior and Inferior
Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) ...
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Why are U.S. Northwestern metropolitan areas set back from the coast?
Why are U.S. Northwestern metropolitan areas (cities) set back from the coast? Everywhere in the U.S. major cities tend to sit close to coasts, because this is optimal for trade. Major continental ...
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Kurds and their relation to the start of civilization?
Is there a relationship between these folks and the start of civilization? Mehrdad Izady suggests that they started civilization via establishing the agricultural production. How can this be possible, ...
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Was there a city called "Margorin" or "Margorum" in Prussia in 1885?
According to genealogical research, my great-grandfather emigrated on the SS Coriolan in 1869 whose port of exit was Bremen. Records indicate that my great-grandfather was from the city of Margorin or ...
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Why is Hungary geographically important to travel between Europe and the Middle East?
In learning a little about the People's Crusade and the First Crusade, it seems Hungary is important as a sort of gateway to the east. The crusades must pass through Hungary in order to get to the ...
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Is Chicago the most regularly laid-out city that has ever existed? [closed]
The World Series is being broadcast on TV and before going to a commercial the network treats us to a view from the blimp or drone or something flying over Chicago at night, and the regularity of the ...
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A city or a geographical area with corners forming only 45, 90, and 135 degree angles. [closed]
Not sure this is a proper historical question, more like geographic, but since I'm asking about both current and historical cities, here it is.
Preamble:
In the industry I work in we deal with ...
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What caused the rapid African population growth in the last decades?
Wikipedia states:
[African] population doubled in the period 1982–2009[4] and quadrupled from 1955–2009, according to United Nations estimates.
Is there a consensus on the causes behind this rapid ...
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Did the ancient Greeks ever climb Mt. Olympus?
We all know that the ancient Greeks believed that their gods lived on top of the mountain Olympus (and some of them in other places like the Underworld). But Olympus - they knew where it was (between ...
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Did Magellan's log show a lost day?
My question embraces history, cosmology and astronomy, I hope this is an appropriate forum to ask it, if not I apologise and hope to be re-directed.
I have read, but lost the reference, that when the ...
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In which modern-day location did the historical battles of Bagrevand happen?
Wikipedia names at least two "battles of Bagrevand",
In 371 between Persia and allied Roman-Armenian forces
In 775 between the Abbasid Caliphate and rebelling Armenian princes
both occuring in the "...
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