Tag: World
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The world’s strangest borders: enclaves, exclaves, tripoints and a front door in two countries
I mapped every enclave, exclave and border oddity in Wikipedia’s lists and every tripoint on Natural Earth’s map. There are 42 true enclaves in 85 pieces, most too small for the map to see.
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Where inventions came from
I mapped the world’s inventions from the first stone tools to the web: farming began in 11 places, writing in 4, and the centre of invention moved from Mesopotamia to China, Europe and North America. The open record of it is 91% Europe and North America.
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The Earth at night: where the world lit up and where it went dark
Seen from space, the planet gave off 57% more light in 2024 than in 2012. Nepal’s light grew 9.3 times and Africa’s cities blazed up, while war halved the light of Ukraine and Yemen, and new LED street lamps made France look 40% darker than it is.
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Where every film director is from
I mapped the birthplaces of 43,619 film directors in Wikidata: New York and Paris lead, Prague and Copenhagen lead per head, Asia’s share has grown since the 1950s, one in seven made their films abroad, and women went from 3% of new directors in the 1920s to 32% in the 2020s.
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The middle of nowhere: the places on Earth farthest from any town
I measured how far every point on land is from the nearest town of 1,000 people. A quarter of the land outside Antarctica is more than 100 km from one; the most landlocked place on Earth is just 65 km from one; and Britain’s middle of nowhere is near Cape Wrath.
