Everyone knows about the sinking of the Titanic, perhaps in part due to Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio’s heartbreaking portrayal of a fictional couple aboard. While we also all acknowledge that there was more than enough room on that door/raft, many people can’t name any other international shipwrecks, even those that took place more recently than the Titanic. Yet, 569 international shipwrecks took place between 1628 and 2015 and all had their own tragic backstories. Let’s take a look at where the final resting places for these ships are located via the map below.

View International Shipwrecks in a full screen map

We gathered information about the 569 international shipwrecks from Wikipedia and its subpages. Note that there are even more mappable shipwrecks that took place in domestic waters but we didn’t want to go overboard with data.

Group the map by ocean, subregion, or the smaller bodies of water to see where most of these wrecks reside, or read on for more information about their oceanic locations.

Shipwrecks by Ocean

Seventy-one percent of the planet is ocean, which has been divided into four ocean basins for geographical, cultural, and scientific reasons, per the National Ocean Service. The original four basins were the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic oceans though most oceanographers now recognize a fifth basin: the Southern Ocean. You can sort the map by these basins, though we summarize the ocean basins and their shipwreck count below.

• Atlantic Ocean – 323 shipwrecks
• Pacific Ocean – 158
• Indian Ocean – 56
• Arctic Ocean – 29
• Southern Ocean – 3

Being only the second largest of the world’s oceans doesn’t stop the Atlantic Ocean from claiming the most shipwrecks. Almost 57% of international ships have gone down there while the Pacific Ocean (the #1 largest ocean) has half the amount of shipwrecks. However, the Atlantic was the body of water between European explorers and the New World. Frequent travel likely propels it to this grim number one position.

The coldest of all the oceans, the Arctic Ocean is partly covered by sea ice year-round. Due to this, it is less frequently travels, so it has a lower number of wrecks when compared to the other oceans. The same goes for the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic), which has temperatures between −2 to 10 °C (28 to 50 °F). Recognized in 2000, only three shipwrecks have occurred there: in 1819, 2007, and 2010. The 1819 wreck of the San Telmo resulted in the deaths of 644 people, possibly the first to die in the ‘future’ Antarctica. Additionally, San Telmo Island off the north coast of Livingston Island is named after the ship. But what about the number of shipwrecks in more specific regions of each ocean basin or even in bays, channels, and seas?

Ocean Bays, Channels, Seas, and Subregions Where Ships Sink

Each of the five ocean basins has subregions such as the North Pacific, South Pacific, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, or Central Indian Ocean. Of these, the North Pacific subregion has been the site of the most wrecks: 124.

Additionally, there are 33 bays, channels, and seas within the ocean basins and their subregions. Of these, the Mediterranean Sea (between Southern Europe and North Africa) is the most common for shipwrecks; 129 to be exact. Sixty-two wrecks have taken place in the North Sea, the second-most, including the Bourbon Dolphin shipwreck.

Over 20 shipwrecks occurred in each of the Norwegian, Phillippine, South China, and Baltic seas. Then there are 27 more bays, channels, or seas with one shipwreck or more. To decrease the chances of a shipwreck, even in one of these locations, it’s helpful to know the months shipwrecks occur most often.

Dangerous Months for Ships

Do ships tend to sink more often when faced with the icy waters of winter months? Or are wrecks more common throughout the summer months when ships may sail more frequently? Let’s find out.

Month	Number of shipwrecks
May	65
June	61
April	50
February	48
March	46
December	46
September	45
October	45
November	45
August	45
July	36
January	32

As you can see from the table above, May is the month of many wrecks. Forty-six of the 65 May shipwrecks occurred in the vast Atlantic Ocean. June, too, has seen a lot of ships sink, as has April. It would appear that the Northern hemisphere’s late spring and early summer is the time of year when international ships tend to go down.

On the other hand, the month of January has only seen 32 international shipwrecks between 1628 and 2015. In addition to January, the months of July and August-November seem to have calmer waters. It’s interesting to see May and June rack up high numbers while the months immediately following have 20+ fewer shipwrecks. Get an even better idea of the months, years, and even days when wrecks occur by grouping by time period on the map.

Group and Filter the Map by Multiple Columns: Oceans & Months

With BatchGeo you can group and filter any of your maps by a data column. For an even more detailed view, you can filter your maps with multiple column values at the same time.

For example, on the map of international shipwrecks, select the Atlantic Ocean from the ‘Ocean’ category so the map only displays wrecks in that basin. To add a second (and third and fourth and so on, if desired) column to the filter—like the month of May— select an additional category, which will keep the Atlantic Ocean filter from before. Note that you can do this with any of your maps made with BatchGeo, making map data analysis easier than ever before.

In the case of international shipwrecks, most occur in the Atlantic Ocean during May, which we easily discovered thanks to multi-column map grouping and filtering. Other ocean-related maps available for your perusal include the busiest ports worldwide and every US shark attack fatality since 1900, which are made with the help of BatchGeo’s online mapping tool.

Maps are the ultimate decision-maker when it comes to determining the center of the U.S., the center of Oregon, or even the center of a major city like Portland. Typically, this center is the location’s unique latitude and longitude degrees. Yet, while no one city in the world can have the same latitude and longitude, many cities share one or the other, even if they’re on the opposite ends of a country. Take Charleston, South Carolina and Carlsbad, California. Both of these U.S. cities are near 33° latitude, which you can see on the map below.

View U.S. cities by latitude and longitude in a full screen map

The data on the map above is from Wikipedia’s List of United States cities by population, which also contained the precise latitude and longitude coordinates. We also used an Excel formula (=IF(CELL<0, MROUND(CELL, -1), MROUND(CELL, 1))) to round the coordinates to their nearest latitude and longitude (within 1 degree). You may filter the map by these ranges or be reminded of exactly what latitude and longitude signify.

A Latitude and Longitude Refresher

If it’s been a while since you learned about latitude and longitude in school, don’t fret. Sixth-grade you may have found geographical coordinates confusing, but they’re not as difficult as they seem. Latitude and longitude are geographic coordinates (read more about them in our Cities Around the World by Latitude and Longitude post). They depict the points of the Earth. While together latitude and longitude make a coordinate pair, each individual coordinate refers to one of two cardinal directions. Take latitude, for example.

Latitude

Latitude, which is usually displayed first in the coordinate pair (i.e. 45.5370°N, Longitude° for Portland, Oregon) identifies how North or South a point is. Portland, Oregon’s latitude of 45.5370°N makes it clear the latitude is North thanks to the “N.” However, when noting the latitude of a point in decimal form, positive numbers indicate North while Southern points use negative (-) numbers. For example, 45.5370, Longitude; the fact that the number is positive demonstrates the latitude is to the North. A Southern latitude in decimal form would be negative. Next up is longitude.

Longitude

Longitude, which indicates how far East or West a point is, typically follows latitude. When noting the longitude of a point in decimal form, positive numbers indicate East while Western points use negative (-) numbers. For example, Portland, Oregon’s longitude of 122.6500°W makes it clear the longitude is West thanks to the “W.” However, in decimal form, Latitude, -122.6500, the negative sign demonstrates the longitude is to the West.

When latitude and longitude are combined, we get the exact location (45.5370°N, 122.6500°W) of a point on the Earth, like Portland, Oregon. Now that we’re a bit more clear on latitude and longitude, let’s take a look at the cities in the U.S. with similar coordinates.

Cities With Similar Latitudes and Longitudes

Thanks to latitudes and longitudes rounded to the nearest degree, we can easily see which of the 315 major U.S. cities have the same near coordinates. We often pin New York, New York and Los Angeles, California against each other. After all, they are two of the largest cities in the U.S. Well, now we can add similar latitudes to the list! New York’s near latitude is 41 while L.A. is at 34, just a 7° difference. What lands them at opposite ends of the country are the longitudes of N.Y.C. and L.A.: -74 and -118, respectively.

However, other cities have even more similar near latitudes (or longitudes) than the Big Apple and the City of Angels, as is the case with the Cities Around the World by Latitude and Longitude.

Same Near Latitudes

Near latitudes—latitudes rounded to the nearest 1°—in the continental U.S. range from 26 to 48. The city in the continental U.S. with the most southern latitude is Miami, Florida. Of course, many other cities in Florida have the same near latitude of 26. What might surprise you, though, is that there are three cities in Texas that have the same near latitude: Brownsville, McAllen, and Edinburg, Texas.

On the other end of the U.S. near latitude range is Everett, Washington. With a near latitude of 48, the only similarly situated cities are also in Washington. However, Renton, WA has a near latitude of 47, which it shares with Fargo, North Dakota. Billings, Montana, Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon all have the same near latitude (46) while Salem, Oregon, Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Green Bay, Wisconsin all have 45° near latitudes.

Same Near Longitudes

As for near longitudes, they range from -71 to -123. Boston, Massachusetts is at -71, along with two additional cities in Massachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island, and Manchester, New Hampshire. At -123 longitude are several Oregonian cities (Eugene, Salem, Hillsboro, and Portland), plus Vancouver, WA, and San Francisco and Santa Rosa, CA, which we can easily see since we put the data on a map.

Map Your Latitude and Longitude Data

When you want to visualize your data in ways other than spreadsheets, turn to maps. With BatchGeo, you can map your location data, including latitude and longitude. To do so:

1. Open your spreadsheet
2. Select (Ctrl+A or Cmd+A) and copy (Ctrl+C or Cmd+C) all your data
3. Open your web browser and go to batchgeo.com
4. Click on the location data box with the example data in it, then paste (Ctrl+V or Cmd+V) your own data
5. Check to make sure you have the proper location data columns available by clicking “Validate and Set Options”
6. Select the proper location column from each drop-down
7. Opt to “Show Advanced Options” to ensure Latitude and Longitude are also set to the proper location data columns
8. Click “Make Map” and watch as the geocoder performs its process

Visit batchgeo.com to map your latitude and longitude data now.

If you’re like many Americans, you have an “I ♥️ N.Y.C/Chicago/L.A.” t-shirt in the back of your closet. Because of our love for these big cities, we know N.Y.C.’s nickname is the Big Apple and that it’s quite windy in Chicago (thus its nickname). We’re also cognizant that L.A. is where most Hollywood stars reside. However, we might not know that these cities didn’t always have the same names we’re familiar with today.

For instance, L.A. used to be dubbed “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de la Porciúncula.” This translates to The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula and was shortened to Los Angeles in the 19th century. Many more cities have cycled through various names throughout the years, including nearly every city in one particular midwestern state. See these changes for yourself via the map.

View U.S. City Name Changes in a full screen map

We used Wikipedia’s List of city name changes to create the map. You may filter the locations by the total number of name changes (five is the most!), or read on to learn how colonial names like Swilling’s Mill, Arizona morphed into the large city of Phoenix.

Cities with Many a Former Name

There are plenty of reasons why a city may wish to spruce up its name. Perhaps the current one is offensive to a group of people or it’s simply no longer a good representation. Why not improve colonial names used centuries ago? Several places take it further than just one or two changes. The following cities have undergone five name changes throughout the years.

• Albany, New York
• Concord, New Hampshire
• Kinston, North Carolina
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Each of these cities has had periods being called five different names, though previous names were often recycled. The city of Albany has previously been dubbed Fort Nassau, Fort Orange, Albany, and Willemstad, before going back to Albany. Kinston cycled through former names like Atkins Bank, Kingston, Kinston, and Caswel, before reverting back to Kinston. Pittsburgh was known as Fort Duquesne, Fort Pitt, Pittsburgh, Pittsburg, and then Pittsburgh once again.

Remarkably, both Concord and Phoenix have had five unique former names. Concord was originally settled by the Pennacook Native Americans and was later called the Plantation of Penney Cook, Penney Cook, Pennacook, and Rumford, before ultimately landing on Concord. Concord comes from a new concord or peace between two towns after a boundary dispute.

As for Phoenix, the city was named Swilling’s Mill, after the surname of a Civil War veteran who erected crop fields in the east of modern-day Phoenix. Swilling’s Mill evolved into Hellinwg Mill, and then Mill City before a settler suggested Phoenix as it described a city born from the ruins of a former civilization (the Hohokam people and their descendants). East Phoenix was then adopted before the East was dropped entirely.

Now that we know how the Plantation of Penney Cook became Concord, New Hampshire and Swilling’s Mill morphed into Phoenix, Arizona, let’s see how the states fare with their cities’ name changes.

Illinois & Other States with Varying City Names

Not only are there several cities that have gone through plenty of names, there are also some states with more finicky cities than others. Only 36 U.S. states have cities with at least one reported name change. The states listed below are home to the most.

• Illinois
• New Jersey
• Massachusetts
• Pennsylvania
• Connecticut

Illinois is practically a whole new state with all of its cities’ name changes. Of the 323 U.S. cities with former names, 157 are located in IL (that’s over 48% from one state!) Further putting Illinois cities’ name changes into perspective, the state with the second-most city name changes (New Jersey), has 20 cities with varying names. Then comes Massachusetts, where 14 cities with former names are located. As for Pennsylvania and Connecticut, these states are home to 12 and 11 cities with newer names, respectively.

However, most of the states have between 1-3 cities with former names. For example, while Phoenix, Arizona was notable for its five unique name changes, Phoenix is also the only city in the Grand Canyon State with a former name.

Build an International Name Change Map

While we didn’t include international city name changes on our map above, you could create your own. Then you could explore some of the fun name changes we discovered in our research: Edo was the city of Tokyo’s former name before it was changed in 1868. Casablanca was known as Anfa in ancient times (and, indeed, the oldest district of the city still bears that name). And what was the former name for Paris? The City of Lights used to be known as Lutetia, which means a place near a swamp or marsh. We prefer Paris.

To make your own map:

1. Find the cities you want to map
2. Format your location data in Excel
3. Copy-paste it into our Excel map builder

You can easily map up to 500 data points for free, using an open data source or any location data you have available. If you need more than 500 locations, take advantage of BatchGeo Pro, which allows you to map 20,000 data points at a time. Depending on your data quantity, you save time with our automated mapping tool. Get started with more insights into your data at batchgeo.com.