Tag: world

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Population change since 1840

Bizarre how there are countries (which are not just city-states) where more people lived 180 years ago than there are now. It’s only 1 country, and the difference is still significant: 8,221,292 in 1840 vs 4,986,525 now. The reasons? Well, first of all, the Great Famine in the 1840s. It resulted in 1 million dying and 1 more million fleeing the country. The next half a century was not that desperate but the conditions on the island were still harsh with rising prices, a lack of jobs and poor harvests. So more people left. There are only around 5 million Irish living in Ireland now, while more than 35 million live in the US, more than 14 in the UK, more than 7 in Australia and more than 4,5 in Canada. So although the population of Ireland itself decreased, the number of Irish people only grew. Or at least descendants of Irish people.

Here’s the source and of course, we don’t exactly know how many people lived in many places in 1840 so although this data might be considered reliable it is not 100% correct.

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Coat of Arms, Emblem or Seal?

The connection between choosing a coat of arms and being a part of the British or Spanish empires at some point in history is uncanny! At the same time, it is unsurprising considering that coats of arms in general are a medieval European invention. I guess, there is not much functional difference between the three, but you can’t call anything a coat of arms, whereas anything can practically be an emblem. To be a coat of arms, an emblem has to follow specific rules.

Here’s the source.

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Coins and banknotes with a face value of 3

Only 6 countries in the world currently use banknotes or coins with a face value of 3! One of them, the Cook Islands dollar is even more unique than the rest. Although the currency was used only for a few years at the end of the 80s – the beginning of the 90s (preceded and succeeded by the New Zealand dollar), the 3$ banknote survived. It is the only Cook Islands dollar banknote or coin that still maintains the status of legal tender. And of course, because of how special it is, the banknote is also a sought-after collector’s item. Thanks to the redditor u/Show_Green for bringing this to my attention!

Over the years many countries experimented with 3-unit coins or banknotes. For instance, in the 90s, Ukraine had a 3 karbovanets banknote and Uzbekistan had a 3 som banknote. Many examples can also be found in the 19th century. Even the US minted a 3-cent coin in the 1850s! You can read up more on this topic in this excellent article by Peter Symes.

The idea for the map came from the Tajikistan episode of one of my favourite YouTube shows GeographyNow. The sources are Wiki and Banknote World.

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Countries compared to Sakha

Sakha or Yakutia is home to more than 950.000 people, half of which are Sakha – the most numerous ethnic group of indigenous peoples in the area. It also hosts one of the coldest places on Earth outside of Antarctica, Oymyakon where on multiple occasions the temperature fell to almost -70°C.

Breathtaking landscapes, diamonds, naturally mummified mammoths, a natural park attempting to re-create prehistoric ecosystems and many other fascinating things can be found in this region, which is the biggest administrative subdivision in the world. It is so big, that in fact, if it were independent it would be the 8th biggest country in the world, after Russia, Canada, China, the US, Australia, Brazil and India and by far the least densely populated as every person living in Yakutia can have around 3km2 of land just for themselves.

Leave a comment if you got something to say and for any requests/suggestions head here. Cheers.

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National flags without red, white or blue

It might seem like a simple question and, to be honest, it mostly is. It might, however, depend not only on whether you consider maroon to be a shade of red so you can include Sri Lanka in the special category but also on the language you speak. Let’s take flags of Kazakhstan and France. Both have blue, right? Well, if you speak Russian, you might say these are different colours because light blue is often seen as a separate colour in Russian, not as a shade of blue. Of course, there is teal or cyan in English but they are not as widely used as the Russian word for light blue. If you are interested to learn more about colour names in different languages, particularly, how they develop, check out this cool Vox video.

As usual, comment if you like the map and if you have any requests/ideas – you’re welcome here.