Rich and Strange Aeons

I expect most of my readers know that Columbus didn't "prove the Earth was round", but an interesting question is how widespread knowledge of the globular Earth was, e.g. among the uneducated. Hard to answer for sure. But this reddit thread gives some interesting quotes about elite knowledge, including citing the Venerable Bede quoting Augustine, and someone writing in 1170s about longitude and time differences (from the observed local time of eclipses.) And:

"the key piece of evidence with regard to unlearned people is a book of sermons published in vernacular German and translated into multiple languages which mentions a spherical Earth multiple times as a metaphor; that is, something ordinary people listening to a sermon would understand and relate to."

Bad news for any Ars Magica campaigns that assume people believing in a flat Earth...

This post discusses the Treaty of Tordesillas; no, a line dividing up the Americas didn't mean they thought the world was flat.

Finally, this blames the 19th century for creating the myth that medieval people thought the world was flat. Not the only historical bullshit that came out of the 19th century...

I was at Harvard's Semitic Museum (free!) today, and looked at a map, and had a thought:




So, the 'equator' of the Roman world runs NW-SE, from Britain into Egypt. Rome is practically right on the line. Tarentum, Athens, and Alexandria would also be good candidates. If you wanted to move the capital eastward, toward more of the people and wealth, then Greece, Crete, or Egypt look like great places. (Egypt's where Rome's grain was coming from anyway.) Maybe Syria or the Greek/Aegean side of Anatolia (Turkey)

Byzantium? Seems on the ass end of things. Note there's two narrow straits between the Aegean see and the Black Sea, and Byzantium is on the outer one, right on the Black Sea. And not much empire beyond it. Imagine trying to sail from Rome or Syria to Byzantium, seems rather a hassle, compared to other locations.

One thought is if Black Sea trade were really significant, much more so than I imagine it as the edge of the Mediterranean world, such that controlling the strait is important.

Wikipedia just says it had a good harbor and "Constantine identified the site of Byzantium as the right place: a place where an emperor could sit, readily defended, with easy access to the Danube or the Euphrates frontiers, his court supplied from the rich gardens and sophisticated workshops of Roman Asia, his treasuries filled by the wealthiest provinces of the Empire."

And obviously the defenses ended up being first rate. But still, it seems a weird place to pick as "eastern capital".

The Earth is about 40,000 km around. (40,006 polar, 40,075 equatorial.) This isn't a coincidence: the 1790s French defined the meter such that 10,000 km was the pole-equator distance. (Picking that ratio to be close to an existing unit.)

The volume of the Earth is 1 trillion km3. 1.083e12 if you need more digits. This is a coincidence.

Everest is the highest point above sea level. (mean sea level? the nearest ocean?) The land furthest from the Earth's center is Mount Chimborazo in the Andes, which at 1 degree South benefits from the equatorial bulge, vs. the 28 N of Everest.

The northernmost point of land and the southernmost point of ocean are at 83 N and 83 S.

Puzzles:
(mine) What European country is due east of Florida?
(someone else) Which US state is closest to Africa?

States lived in, 4: http://www.amcharts.com/visited_states/#US-CA,US-IL,US-IN,US-MA

States slept in for a week or more, 11: http://www.amcharts.com/visited_states/#US-CA,US-GA,US-HI,US-IL,US-IN,US-MA,US-NV,US-NY,US-OH,US-PA,US-WA
I think Ohio is a composite of Ohayocon and visiting fanw in Cleveland before Europe.
For a month or more, just add WA to the lived-in list.

States slept in, not counting "on a bus", 22: http://www.amcharts.com/visited_states/#US-CA,US-CT,US-GA,US-HI,US-ID,US-IL,US-IN,US-KY,US-LA,US-ME,US-MA,US-MI,US-MN,US-NV,US-NY,US-OH,US-OK,US-OR,US-PA,US-TN,US-WA,US-DC

States visited at all, not counting looking around during a bus break, 25: http://www.amcharts.com/visited_states/#US-CA,US-CT,US-GA,US-HI,US-ID,US-IL,US-IN,US-KY,US-LA,US-ME,US-MD,US-MA,US-MI,US-MN,US-NV,US-NY,US-NC,US-OH,US-OK,US-OR,US-PA,US-RI,US-TN,US-VT,US-WA,US-DC

States I *know* I have been present in for any reason: http://www.amcharts.com/visited_states/#US-AZ,US-AR,US-CA,US-CT,US-FL,US-GA,US-HI,US-ID,US-IL,US-IN,US-IA,US-KY,US-LA,US-ME,US-MD,US-MA,US-MI,US-MN,US-MT,US-NE,US-NV,US-NH,US-NJ,US-NM,US-NY,US-NC,US-ND,US-OH,US-OK,US-OR,US-PA,US-RI,US-TN,US-TX,US-UT,US-VT,US-WA,US-DC,US-WI,US-WY

States I know I HAVE NOT been in: MS, AL, AK. Well, I'm 100% sure of Alaska, I'm pretty sure about MS and AL.
Dubious: SC, SD.
I must have passed through at least one of WV and VA, en route from LA to DC, but not sure which. I suppose I could look up routes and guess, but if I don't even know, it hardly seems to count.

Countries slept in, 11: http://www.amcharts.com/visited_countries/#EE,FR,NL,RU,ES,GB,CA,MX,US,CL,JP Though Estonia (EE?) and Russia were the USSR at the time, so is that 10 or 11? And Mexico is just a geology field trip.
I have also breen present in the Zurich airport, and I suppose my Paris-Amsterdam train passed through Belgium.

Back in grad school I met someone (white) who was from Namibia, which was exotic and novel to me; I didn't have much awareness of it as a country, vs. a province in South Africa or something. This despite the geography section of Academic Decathlon. Anyway, years later I got around to reading Wikipedia on the country.

* Became independent in 1990. - Odd, I grew up watching the MacNeil Lehrer NewsHour over dinner, you'd think they'd have mentioned this. Maybe they did and I don't remember. Maybe they mentioned it in one news summary I was late for and never again.
* ...after a war for independence from South Africa. - Okay, I'd think even more this would have been mentioned. I remember MLNH or 60 Minutes stories on South Africa, Angola (Joe Slovo!), and Lesotho. I suppose not Zambia or Zimbabwe. Still, I have one of those "did I slip into an alternate universe?" feelings.
* It has 2 million people in an area larger than France and Germany combined; loses out to Mongolia for the coveted title of least densely populated country - I suppose if Greenland ever became fully independent it would take that title. Also I have a new candidate to taunt space cadets with, about how if they want to settle a hostile frontier why don't they go to X. Namibia would have a better solar budget than Mongolia or the Yukon... or Mars. Anyway, low population could help explain staying out of the news.
* Country has the least rainfall of sub-Saharan Africa. Not a surprise from satellite views; the only competitors would be Somalia and Botswana.
* It seems to have been peaceful and stable since 1990, with regular elections, though SWAPO like the ANC has yet to lose an election and thus be tested in giving up power. - Also explains not making the news.
* GDP/capita of $8000 PPP. Not bad! But Gini of 60, and whites own most of the arable land, and there's mineral wealth... I suspect it's like South Africa: whites live like Americans, blacks live like subsistence farmers.
* The revolutionary government made English the official language, despite most blacks speaking a Bantu tongue and most whites speaking German or Afrikaans.

* Ooh, German... did I know Germany had had an African colony? I can't remember. Anyway, they had this one from 1884. And what did they do with it?

'From 1904 to 1907, the Herero and the Namaqua took up arms against the Germans and in the subsequent Herero and Namaqua genocide, 10,000 Nama (half their population) and approximately 65,000 Hereros (about 80% of their population) were killed.[12][13] The survivors, when finally released from detention, were subjected to a policy of dispossession, deportation, forced labour, racial segregation and discrimination in a system that in many ways anticipated apartheid. Most Africans were confined to so-called native territories, which later under South African rule post-1949 were turned into "homelands" (Bantustans)'

Killing males outright, driving women and children into the desert to die of thirst, creating death camps, performing "medical experiments". From the genocide page:

'According to Benjamin Madley, the German experience in South West Africa was a crucial precursor to Nazi colonialism and genocide. He argues that personal connections, literature, and public debates served as conduits for communicating colonialist and genocidal ideas and methods from the colony to Germany.[104] Tony Barta, honorary research associate[clarification needed] at La Trobe University Melbourne, argues that the Herero Genocide was an inspiration for Hitler in his war against the Jews.[105]

According to Clarence Lusane, Eugen Fischer's medical experiments can be seen as a testing ground for later medical procedures used during the Nazi Holocaust.[69] Fischer later became chancellor of the University of Berlin, where he taught medicine to Nazi physicians.[78] One of his prominent students was Josef Mengele, the doctor who performed genetic experiments on Jewish children at the Auschwitz concentration camp.[106] Ben Kiernan, the director of the Genocide Studies Programme at Yale University, pointed out that Eugen Fischer was not the only person who took part in both genocides. Franz Ritter von Epp, who was later responsible for the liquidation of all Bavarian Jews and Roma[dubious – discuss] as governor of Bavaria, took part in the Herero genocide as well.[107]'

Germany has apologized for the genocide, but ruled out reparations, though it gives $14 million/year in foreign aid, which comes out to a whopping $7/person-year. Really making an effort there, guys.

* Countries that materially supported Namibia in its struggle against apartheid South Africa: Cuba, Libya. Especially Cuba.

everyone lives in Asia; more precisely, more than half the human race lives among China India SE Asia Japan Philippines Indonesia.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/05/07/asia_population_circle.html

countries re-assigned by population, so that land area and population have the same ranking
http://www.thehighdefinite.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/c6Agr.jpg

The European Union is famous. But there's also an African Union and the Union of South American Nations, or USAN. Neither is nearly as well developed as the EU and USAN in particular is very new, but out of all the other intergovernmental bodies and agreements out there, these seem closest to the EU in intent. Lots of people are skeptical of a world government, others hope for it out of the UN; me, I'd put my money on this sort of gradual and voluntary union. Imagine a world where all three unions are up and running, and where the economic gap has shrunk massively. Might not the same logic that formed the unions suggest that they in turn break down the barriers between them?

(And of course there's environmental issues, and the possibility of using sanctions on non-compliant countries.)

Part of me thinks that the AU is getting well ahead of itself; talk of a continent-wide parliament seems odd when most of the component countries can't run themselves well. But the AU has done some good with peacekeeper deployments and sanctioning a few cases of undemocratic or unconstitutional malfeasance, and I wonder if one bad government might not be better than a dozen. On the one hand, fewer places to run; on the other, fewer trade barriers and bigger risk pools and hopefully less war. And corruption can be either better or worse with scale.

Good Africa news, at least in military professionalism and cooperation.

Speaking of trade barriers, an interesting article on geography and develoment, particularly the costs of landlocked countries. A couple of money quotes:

"simply crossing the U.S.-Canadian border is equivalent to adding from 4,000 to 16,000 kilometers worth of transportation costs"

"Shipping a standard container from Baltimore to the Ivory Coast costs about $3,000, while sending that same container to the landlocked Central African Republic costs $13,000."

The cheapest trade is still maritime, so lacking coast means lack of direct access to cheap trade and having to go through neighbors who might tax or block you. Next cheapest trade is rail, but of course that's somewhat expensive infrastructure, problematic for a poor country to build or run, and you've still got the neighbors problem. The real fun poverty trap is a combination: landlocked, far from the cost with poor rail or roads, beset by tropical diseases, and being of small size and thus of limited risk sharing, so a natural disaster devastates the whole country. (Imagine if Colorado or Florida were independent countries, facing the fires and hurricanes that they do without federal aid.) Africa has 15 landlocked countries, mostly well away from coasts, with poor infrastructure and good diseases.

I feel sorry for Ethiopia, which became landlocked when Eritrea split away. The barrier's very thin for a good stretch, but presumably the countries aren't friendly.

Plus of course poverty means not being a market for research into your problems, disease or otherwise.

The Bottom Billion reportedly notes another problem: a small country with bad government and cheap labor isn't attractive to investors despite the cheap labor, because there's limited return on investing in figuring out how to deal with the bad government. Far better to go for China or India, where there's the promise of big labor pools and and maybe markets.

I've never considered myself an expert on geography, whatever that means, but part of my childhood was my father throwing out unexpected geographical facts or questions. Like, "does the Panama canal go east to west?" (Nope: Atlantic to Pacific is NW to SE, given how Panama twists. Not that the canal is that much of a straight line, as I just learned.) The relative latitudes of the US and Europe are fairly well known (Newfoundland, Paris) I never did buy his claim that Nevada was west of California, since some points of Nevada are west of many points in CA (including LA); my counter was that every point in Nevada has a point in CA to its west.

South American being east of North America is my favorite personal discovery. Came about when a friend in Berkeley said she was flying to Chile via Miami, which seemed bizarre, until I looked and traced down the latitude lines. Miami barely clips Ecuador. Boston is basically due north of Chile. Which isn't how the flights go... right, because I've never flown that direct, it's always been Dallas or Toronto or Miami connecting. I also like my Portland-Minneapolis-Lyon latitude line, and the realization that Seattle is thereby north of Minneapolis. Doesn't feel like it!

OTOH, I somehow grew up thinking Toronto was basically north of Chicago, Ottawa a bit NE from there, and Quebec some vague distance off to the east. Later I thought Toronto was near Detroit, as opposed to being near Buffalo like it is.

There's a miscellaneious transit and antique map store near me, and I popped in today and walked out with a tiny -- size of a grapefruit -- globe for $15. "Antique style" where antique might mean 1950. It's fairly up to date, though it doesn't have South Sudan. (I'd bet good money not all my readers know there's an independent South Sudan. I wouldn't be surprised if Eritrea had missed a few brain cells as well.) It's tiny and missing a lot of detail compared to a normal sized globe -- no Quebec City, though it does have La Serena to my surprise, but no Valparaiso which seems rather arbitrary -- but it's big enough to spin around and find countries and marvel at geographical facts, those I'm familiar with and those I know but don't feel and those I didn't know at all, without taking up a lot of space.

Tonight I wondered if there were flights over the North Pole as great circle routes would indicate. (yes) I've recently seen a graphic on the true size of Africa, but there's an extra visceral impact of paying attention on a globe, free from any projection distortions. Harder to tell exactly how many large countries fit into Africa, but very clear that the US and China do, while India is like half or 2/3 of non-Russian Europe.

It's also pretty impressive to look at India, or eastern (old Han) China, and realize that about 1/5 of the world population lives and always has lived in each of those fairly small areas. I'm also realizing that India isn't that much bigger than Kazakhstan, Iran, or Saudi Arabia, or old Sudan, to list relatively nearby countries with much smaller populations.

I'd always thought of Australia as pretty isolated, and I guess it kind of is, but on the globe it look right next door to Indonesia. I measured it on Google Earth, and it's 200 km to Indonesian New Guinea, about 700 km from Darwin to Indonesian Timor. Pretty far on a rowboat, but a few days on a rather slow ship. Of course, most Indonesians live a lot further away.

Then a double weirdness. "Oh, there's Fiji and Samoa, way to the south Pacific." "Hey, someone in LA had debated Caribbean vs. Fiji vacation plans, saying Fiji wasn't that much farther. That's nuts." "Wait, right, he lives in LA, not Boston. And if I measure it out... huh, Fiji's maybe less than twice the distance to Barbados." "Huh, from west Cuba to Barbados is like 1600 miles."

Google Earth is awesome, BTW, and definitely better for measuring things than a globe that doesn't even indicate the scale, and it tries to cope with projection problems. But I still like playing with a real globe more, partly because Google's not so good at keeping useful labels around while zoomed out, and you have to switch scales to move around easily.

Greenland looks *so tiny*. That's in the "I know it, but seeing it is always a shock" category. A lifetime of Mercator projections really messes you up. South America is rather large, mostly due to Brazil. Antarctica, pretty small compared to Africa or South America, though menacing Australia for its lunch money.

Of course my babbling about this probably doesn't have a 1/10th the impact it would if we were looking at a globe together. I could spend the effort linking to maps, but that would seem to miss the point.

Nice not having to fend off a preschooler who wants to just spin the globe a lot, as was the case for the last globe I played with. :)

ETA 15 June: Crossposting from DW to LJ failed due to password changes, which is why you're seeing this post I made June 6 today in your LJ RSS feeds or friends pages.