Making Sense Of The World, One Map At A Time
The maps below compare GDP growth of various countries between 2000 and 2025. The GDP data comes from the IMF via Wikipedia which states that:
“Figures are based on official exchange rates, not on the purchasing power parity (PPP) methodology. Values are given in millions of United States dollars (USD) and have not been adjusted for inflation.”
In total World GDP increased from $34 Trillion USD to $116 Trillion USD during this period a 240% increase!
The map above shows the huge difference in the size of the UK vs Japan’s highspeed rail networks in 1963 compared to 2025.
Given the UK’s invented passenger railways it seems even more strange. So why is the UK network’s so small compared to Japan’s?
The map above shows the huge disparity between high speed rail service in the United States compared to Europe.
In the United States:
The map above is a humorous look at how the ancient Chinese viewed the rest of the world.
Obviously, you first have the Chinese Emperor at the centre, with everything else radiating out from there.
But as the original map author states: “The line shown here is only about 72% of the US-Canada border, and is shorter than the Russia-Kazakhstan border. The other 28% in Alaska makes the US-Canada border the longest in the world.”
The map above of Shiyu Islet shows just how close Mainland China and Taiwan are at their closest point.
As you can see, the islet is much closer to the Chinese city of Xiamen in Fujian province than it is to main island of Taiwan (Formosa).
And it’s not alone, Taiwan owns several more islets close to mainland China as well as larger islands such as Lieyu (seen in the map above) and Kinmen island (Taiwan’s second largest island by area).
Here’s some more maps and pictures of them:
The map above shows the Diomede Islands where the distance between the Russia on Big Diomede Island and The United States on Little Diomede Island is just over 2 miles.
They are also on opposite sides of the International Date line, although the Russian side is just 21 hours ahead of the United States rather than 24 because of how they’ve chosen to adopt Time Zones.
But this does mean when it’s 1am on Monday morning on the Russian side, it’s just 4am Sunday morning on the American side.
More about the islands.
The video above is a sped up version of the following video showing the The Reconquista: Every Year.
For more please see the following: