Tag: World

• There and Back Again: 2,500 years of great journeys, and how sure we are that they happened

  

  I mapped 43 great journeys from about 600 BC to 1947, out and back, and graded each by its evidence. 18 are proven and 7 are legends, and 11 of the 12 journeys after 1450 are proven against 7 of the 31 before.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories

  Data bias, Exploration, Flow map, history, Long view, Wikipedia, World, world maps

• Far from home: where the Victoria Cross was won

  

  Every Victoria Cross has two places: where the recipient was born and where the deed was done. I mapped both for 1,357 awards and measured the distance between them.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories

  Birthplaces, Empire and colonialism, Famous people, Flow map, history, Military history, Twentieth century, UK, Victorian, war, World, world maps

• I really love GeoGuessr: a globetrotting relief from lockdown

  

  GeoGuessr is a geographic discovery game designed by Anton Wallén. Released on the 9th May 2013, I doubt Anton had in mind the powerful escapism the game offers those stuck in seemingly never ending lockdowns. The game has provided me a gamified gateway to the wider world that I have been very grateful for.

  Tristan Hotham

  Games & other interests

  Covid-19, games, Geography games, World, world maps

• How a cheesy joke from the 1830s became the most widely spoken word in the world.

  

  OK is thought to be the most widely recognized word on the planet. We use it to communicate with each other, as well as our technology. But it actually started out as a language fad in the 1830’s of abbreviating words incorrectly. Young intellectuals in Boston came up with several of these abbreviations, including “KC”…

  Tristan Hotham

  Games & other interests

  Americas, Georgian, history, language and dialect, Languages, World, world maps