Geography used to be a required course in most highschools, but for decades now that discipline has languished on the fringes of recognition. As a result, geographical ignorance has spread alarmingly in the United States. For example, at the link below is a map quiz of the Middle East, a region the US has been pouring money, weapons and military personnel into since WWII and in which, for the last 7 years it has been fighting a “hot” war of occupation. How many nations can you identify?
Most of us grew up with the Mercator projection, a map developed in the 16th century which attempts to render true outline:
analepsis 