Top Ten Common Geography Mistakes

I have an Ethiopian classmate and she didn't know South Africa was a country.

Really? 50 countries is one "country"?

My best friend's girlfriend always thinks this

Lol people can be idiots

This is one I didn't know, wow.

Geographically, the Statue of Liberty falls under New Jersey's borders.

A lot of people don't know this

I did not know this one

Many Americans refer to the Netherlands as Holland, but really, Holland is just a large area of the Netherlands. Important cities are in Holland, including Amsterdam and The Hague.

This arises because north and south holland are the most populated

The definition of a desert is not "a place with lots of sand and very high temperatures", it's "an area with rainfall less than 10 inches per year". So Antartica, technically, is a desert.

Dry is the correct word

They temperatures are dry.

While many deserts around 30 degrees latitude can reach significantly high temperatures (Sahara, Mojave, etc. ), there can be some cold deserts, A desert refers to any area with less than 10 inches of rain a year. This includes Antarctica and the Gobi Desert

Toronto is the biggest Canadian city but the capital is Ottawa.

Everyone in my geography class said that on a pop quiz

The capital is Ottawa

It's Ottawa.

Really not, however seeing as it's part of Denmark, that makes Denmark the biggest country in the nordic

No. Africa is 14 times as large as Greenland, not 14 times later than Greenland.

I mean larger, not later.

Wrong it's not

It's actually located in the European part of Russia, so technically it's in Europe

Moscow, the capital of Russia, is in Europe. You need to know that Russia lies on 2 continents, Asia & Europe.

Charleston is a major city in South Carolina, but the capital is Columbia. West Virginia's capital is Charleston, so basically, two cities have the same name.

I commonly make this mistake. I'm into birds and a lot of bird history took place in Charleston, so often this is the only SC city I can remember.

Naypyidaw is the capital, Rangoon is just the biggest city, and while it used to be a capital it isn't anymore since 2006

In 2006, it was changed to Nay Pyi Daw.

Rangoon isn't the capital of Myanmar ( I think it's a major city).
The capital is Naypiydaw.

While yes, Maine is the Easternmost of the lower 48, it isn't the Easternmost of the whole US. Alaska leans so far west actually passes the prime meridian and is partly in the Eastern Hemisphere.

It depends on how you interpret the International Date Line.

What ethanthemeister said

Really? UK, France, Sweden, Western Russia, Lithuania and many more are one united country?

Again, it's a continent.

Americans Tend to be like that sadly

The Countries in North and South America

North:

A
Antigua and Barbuda

B
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize

C
Canada
Costa Rica
Cuba

D
Dominica
Dominican Republic

E
El Salvador

G
Grenada
Guatemala

H
Haiti
Honduras

J
Jamaica
M

Mexico

N
Nicaragua

P
Panama

S
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

T
Trinidad and Tobago

U
United States of America

South:

A
Argentina

B
Bolivia
Brazil

C
Chile
Colombia

E
Ecuador
G
Guyana

P
Paraguay
Peru

S
Suriname

U
Uruguay

V
Venezuela

(And a little trivia: The acronym of North East West South is...

news)

It is the United States of America, America is a large geographical region.

It consists of a lot of countries including the US states

Well this is a continent, again.

The Philippines is officially part of Southeast Asia, and is about 500 miles off the coast of China. Indonesia, however, is partially in Oceania/Australia because it takes up half of New Guinea.

It's an archipelago in south east Asia

England is the biggest part of the United Kingdom, other countries in there are Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

No, but it could be after brexit

The UK - Nothern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England
Great Britain - Scotland, Wales, England
England - The constituent country with the largest population out of the 4 nations.

I HATE PEOPLE WHO IGNORE SCOTLAND WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND LIKE STOPPP

It's an island, and what Cyri said, occupied by seven countries

It's a continent with several regions occupied by seven countries.

A freaking continent guys.

When I was little, I thought it was the other way around (I thought China was the capital of Japan).

I know this sounds stupid, but I actually knew someone who legitimately thought this.
It was in Year 8.
And she would have been 12 or 13.

Beijing is China's capital.

^That's Bejing, Japan is another country

Sydney is the largest city of Australia, but Canberra is the capital city of Australia.

This should be much higher. It's a very common misconception.

It's actually pretty annoying when someone says this...

It's the biggest, but Canberra is the capital

Definitely not. The UK is a united kingdom between countries like Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland AND England. Britian is just the island that consists of Scotland, Wales and England

It was the old capital of Brazil, the new one is Brasilia.

That's Brazilia

FACT:
- Indonesia is the largest archipelago country in the world (more than 17,500 islands)
- It is in Southeast Asia
- 3 Islands in Indonesia is part of Top 10 biggest island in the world
- Area of Indonesia is the largest no.15 in the world

It is not in Oceania only. it is also in Asia.

In reality, Montreal is the biggest, Quebec City is the capital

It's a province in Canada, the second most important Canadian province in terms of everything

It's a province in Canada

Just wait

Austria is located in Europe, whereas Australia is located in Oceania

People get confused by this.

I bet Australia just copied and pasted Austria’s name but added a few letters so nobody would know

Jamaica is an island in the caribbean

Lmao yes! Many people gets baffled with this.

It changed its name years ago...

I know someone who actually thinks this guam is a territory of the usa

Those are two different continents, although you could argue that the whole of America could count as one continent, eh anyway you get my point