When I was a kid, my brother was always better than me in geography (and history, and basketball and many other things, but I digress). It was clear to me that there was a big world out there, but I didn't always remember where things were. I was always trying to learn the capitals and countries and where they were in the world, but it was vague notion, and I often failed to really grasp the world at large. I knew places that I knew people from. US, Mexico, Romania, Colombia, Ecuador, Burkina Faso. Most of them were missionaries and the made the world a little nearer. Fast forward to today and the world is feeling a lot smaller, but I still have to learn and relearn where everything is and what that means on this planet that seems a lot smaller than it did over 30 years ago.
So, with the Iron Curtain falling, and regained independence for some and border shifting, google tells me there are 196 countries in the world. Canada has gone from 10 provinces and 2 territories to 10 and 3. The US has not adopted Puerto Rico, but many think it should bring up the count to 51 states. My parents took us through midwestern US and down to Mexico and Florida, and I have travelled to a couple of other continents since then and have a little more idea of the world. Still, I would be hard pressed to point out on a blank map more than 25 countries that I am sure of (it was so much easier to find USSR and Yugoslavia, but I am learning! Even this week, I met a couple of people travelling from Qatar. Its airline has a ton of advertising, from soccer jerseys to my beloved Botanical Gardens, but when I looked up where it was in the Middle East, I couldn't believe how tiny it was! In fact, wikipedia says it had the highest GDP per capita in the world last year. That little fact, all from the search for where it was in the world.
I was taught that there are five continents in the world but others say that there are up to seven. The difference is in splitting or lumping together North and South America (N. America gets the Caribbean and Central America) and Europe and Asia. That gives N. America 23 countries, S. America 12, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica.
The largest to smallest land masses are Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antartica, Europe and Australia. The island countries in between can be grouped geographically with a neighbouring continental landmass. Australia is consider a landmass, not actually an island.
Here is a
list of countries by continents.
To give you a fighting chance, here is the number by continent:
AFRICA 54
ASIA 44
EUROPE 47
NORTH AMERICA (INCLUDES CENTRAL AND CARIBBEAN) 23
OCEANIA 14
SOUTH AMERICA 12
Here is my list of countries I know:
I live in Canada. I often visit the U.S.A. and have made it three times to Mexico. I love to visit Europe and have been to the U.K., France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, Monaco, Vatican City, and Greece. My brother was born in Colombia and lived in Kazakhstan. My uncle, aunt, and cousins lived in Burkina Faso. I worked in Nigeria. I visited a friend in China. I have vacationed in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. My girlfriends have been from Malaysia, Algeria, India, Lebanon, Thailand, and Australia. I have worked with people from Ghana, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Phillipines, Oman, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Bahrain, Bosnia, Greece, Croatia, Jamaica, South Africa, Congo, El Salvador, Russia, Guyana and Iran. My climbing partners have from Belarus, Australia, and Guyana. Countries too familiar from the news, often because of tragedy: Afghanistan, Haiti, Syria, South Africa, Somalia, Ukraine, Serbia, Albania, Burma, Kuwait, Rwanda, Sudan, Eritrea, Puerto Rico, Barbados. There are a lot of places I still hope to visit, but until then, I keep learning geography as a way to learn about history, current events, and ecology.
