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GeoCurrents

GeoCurrents
The Problem of Mapping Transcontinental Countries As noted in the previous post, most maps of continents found in online images searches divide...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
As noted in the previous post, most maps of continents found in online images searches divide several countries, particularly Russia and Turkey, along conventional continental lines yet avoid dividing Indonesia in the same manner. Evidently, in the popular cartographic...
GeoCurrents
The Conceptual Incoherence of the Standard Continental Model The division of the terrestrial world into seven continents is seemingly the simplest topic in...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
The division of the terrestrial world into seven continents is seemingly the simplest topic in geography, yet it is actually one of the most complex – which is precisely why I find it so fascinating. Unfortunately, the educational establishment grasps only its superficial...
GeoCurrents
Floristic Kingdoms and the Architecture of Continents The two previous GeoCurrents posts examined the biological significance of continents by looking at...
a month ago
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a month ago
The two previous GeoCurrents posts examined the biological significance of continents by looking at the distribution of animals. It is time now to turn out attention to plants. One of the most influential divisions of the world into “floristic kingdoms” is that of botanist Ronald...
GeoCurrents
How Does an Updated Map of Zoogeographic Regions Mesh with the Architecture of Continents? An important 2013 article in published in Science, “An Update of Wallace’s Zoogeographic Regions of...
a month ago
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a month ago
An important 2013 article in published in Science, “An Update of Wallace’s Zoogeographic Regions of the World,” redivides the world’s faunal regions. The study is based on a sophisticated statistical and phylogenetic analysis of 21,037 species of amphibians, non-pelagic birds and...
GeoCurrents
Zoogeographical Regions & the Architecture of Continents: The Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace If the division of the terrestrial world into continents is partially but misleadingly rooted in...
a month ago
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a month ago
If the division of the terrestrial world into continents is partially but misleadingly rooted in geology, as recent GeoCurrents posts have argued, we must also ask whether it reflects the distribution of animal and plant life. Are continents, in other words, entities of...
GeoCurrents
A Major Win for the Left in Canada’s 2025 Election – But Not in Alberta or Saskatchewan The Conservative Party was widely expected to win Canada’s April 28 federal election. As recently as...
a week ago
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a week ago
The Conservative Party was widely expected to win Canada’s April 28 federal election. As recently as January 2025, the party was polling well ahead of the governing Liberals (see the graph posted below). But after U.S. President Donald Trump began calling Canada the “fifty-first...
GeoCurrents
A Semi-Serious Historically Based Alternative World Regionalization Model As I argued in the previous Geo-Currents post, the semi-standard world regional model is...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
As I argued in the previous Geo-Currents post, the semi-standard world regional model is indispensable for understanding global geography. But as it is also highly flawed, it should be complemented with other models. I have therefore devised an alternative scheme, one designed to...
GeoCurrents
The Biological Significance of Micro-Continents: The Fascinating Caecilians of Seychelles (and Other... On the surface, there is little to distinguish small islands on continental fragments from oceanic...
a month ago
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a month ago
On the surface, there is little to distinguish small islands on continental fragments from oceanic islands that have no continental connections. Careful observation, however, can reveal some interesting differences. The Seychelles microcontinent in the Indian Ocean is an...
GeoCurrents
GeoCurrents Listed as One of the 100 Best GIS Blogs and Websites in 2025 I am pleased to report that GeoCurrents has been selected by FeedSpot as one of the “100 Best GIS...
a month ago
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a month ago
I am pleased to report that GeoCurrents has been selected by FeedSpot as one of the “100 Best GIS Blogs” for 2025. It is an honor to receive this recognition and I give my sincere thanks to FeedSpot for the acknowledgement, although I do have to say that GeoCurrents is more a...
GeoCurrents
Map Art or Scientific Cartography? Many maps, in my view, are also work of art, regardless of their creators’ intentions. Some maps,...
a month ago
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a month ago
Many maps, in my view, are also work of art, regardless of their creators’ intentions. Some maps, however, are explicitly made as art, and as such are not designed to convey spatial information beyond that found in the mere geographical shapes that they contain. Increasingly, it...
GeoCurrents
Mapping Continents Based on Continental Crust As the previous GeoCurrents post argued, the division of the terrestrial world into a handful of...
a month ago
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a month ago
As the previous GeoCurrents post argued, the division of the terrestrial world into a handful of continents derives in part from the division of the Earth’s crust into tectonic plates. But there is another geological factor equally pertinent to the concept of “continent.” It...
GeoCurrents
Are Continents Rooted in Plate Tectonics? Tectonic plates are the basic building blocks of the Earth’s lithosphere, its outermost rocky layer....
a month ago
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a month ago
Tectonic plates are the basic building blocks of the Earth’s lithosphere, its outermost rocky layer. As these large segments of crust slowly move, landmasses and sea expanses are gradually rearranged. The current configuration of tectonic plates shows a tight connection with the...
GeoCurrents
Adding New “Continents” to the Map of the World – and thus Approaching the World-Regional Model Almost all maps found in online image searches of “continents map” depict the standard...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Almost all maps found in online image searches of “continents map” depict the standard seven-continent model of the U.S. educational establishment. A few, however, deviate from the scheme by adding additional continents. Such adjustments are understandable, as the standard model...
GeoCurrents
Problematic Countries in the World Regional Model While the continental model is ostensibly based on physical features, the world regional model is...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
While the continental model is ostensibly based on physical features, the world regional model is keyed more to geopolitical factors. As a result, it does not generally divide countries among regions. The one exception is France, whose exclaves (overseas departments) are usually...
GeoCurrents
From Continents to the World Regional Model Despite my harsh criticisms of the continental model expressed in the preceding posts, I do think...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Despite my harsh criticisms of the continental model expressed in the preceding posts, I do think that it should be taught to young students. In my ideal scenario, first-graders would be shown, ideally by examining a globe, that there are six very large masses of land that are...
GeoCurrents
Comparing Recent Patterns of Electoral Geography in the United States and Canada (Part 1:... Comparing electoral maps of Canada and the United States is a challenging exercise. The two...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
Comparing electoral maps of Canada and the United States is a challenging exercise. The two countries have markedly different political systems: the United States is a presidential democratic republic and Canada is a nominally monarchical state governed through a...