Author: Adam DuVander

January 2022 marks the third year the world has to deal with the no-longer-novel coronavirus. While we’re on the topic of anniversaries, 100 years ago, many historical events took place. So what happened in 1922 that you should care about? The major events in 1922 can be divided into 10 categories, including education, disaster, food and health, and wars. Beyond the aftermath of World War I, other skirmishes were fought throughout the year. So let’s take a look at the 129 most important 1922 events from 100 years ago on the map below.

View 100 Years Since 1922 in a full screen map

Wikipedia’s data is the source of information for these 1922 events. Group the map by categories like media, strikes and revolutions, and sports. Or, for a more in-depth look at the trends within these 10 categories, keep reading.

Major Events in 1922 by Category

We broke them down into 11 categories with events adding up to 129 for easier digestion (yes, food is a category!)

• Politics (46)
• War (33)
• Media (20)
• Disaster (6)
• Education (6)
• Strikes & revolutions (5)
• Sports (5)
• Food & health (3)
• Animals (3)
• Culture (3)
• Transport (2)

Some examples include the several educational opportunities that arose in 1922. New schools opened along with a Black sorority’s first chapter (Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Lambda Chapter) in New York. Additionally, an English archaeologist unearthed the entrance to Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt. He and his team were the first inside in 3,000+ years.

Disaster also struck in 1922, be it natural or otherwise. This included the first mid-air collision of two planes over Poix-de-Picardie in France. A British airplane carrying mail hit a French plane containing three passengers. Seven people died in total. For more on the history of place collisions, see 550+ Major Plane Crashes.

Moreover, the Swatow typhoon disastrously hit Shantou, China in 1922. The result was 5,000+ people dead. Find out if it was one of the Most Disastrous Natural Disasters in our post on the topic.

Food & Health

As for food, just two related events grace the map, along with a single notable health discovery. First up, 1922 was the year an Australian invented Vegemite. Spread on sandwiches, toast, crumpets, and cracker biscuits, it’s a staple for many in the Land Down Under.

Additionally, the Eskimo Pie ice cream bar was created in the U.S. this year. However, it would later be renamed as a result of the Reported Name Changes Due to George Floyd Protests. On June 19, 2020, makers agreed “Eskimo” can be racist towards Arctic indigenous peoples (like the Inuit and Yupik). It will rebrand, along with several other frozen treats and sports teams that contain the same name.

And in a win for those with diabetes, a Toronto-based scientist created the first successful insulin treatment. Too bad a treatment for disagreements between countries wasn’t also discovered.

War-Related 1922 Events

We could hardly mention the 1922 events related to war without including the five cases involving post-World War I German hyperinflation.

While the Great War ended in 1918, rapid price increases made it so that it took 563 German marks to buy one U.S. dollar in the middle of 1922. That continued to rise throughout the rest of the year to 1,000, and then 3,000 marks. Ultimately, the year ended with 7,000 marks needed to buy $1.

As a result of the hyperinflation (along with other unfortunate events, like the assassinations also noted on the map), the Weimar Republic asked for a three-year break on payments.

Other events related to a post-war world took place in Genoa, Italy, where representatives for 34 countries met to discuss finances in the wake of the war.

But more than post-WWI, smaller, yet still impactful wars were also fought, including the Greco-Turkish War, Irish Civil War, and Russian Civil War. You can discover more specifics about these incidents on the map when you group by war and navigate to the respective areas. But that’s not all there is left to learn.

Learn More About Past Years

The major events in 1922, such as the invention of Vegemite and Germany’s struggles to pay off war debts can still affect the world to this day—in good ways and bad. Now that you’re an expert about what happened in 1922, be sure to check out our previous posts highlighting the events of 100 years prior: 100 years since 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, and 1921.

Type Portland into Google Maps and you’ll be directed to one of two cities in Oregon or Maine. But this isn’t the only example of cities with the same name in different U.S. states, nor is it the most popular.

The most common town name in USA and other common city names are often named for famous individuals like past presidents. In fact, as you’ll see, one man is responsible for two of the top 10 names. We’ll also touch on the coasts with the most, which is only illuminated thanks to a map, like the one below.

View Most Common City Names in a full screen map

Mapped are 10 of the most common U.S. place names from Wikipedia’s list. We pulled only the top 10, which was enough to fill our interactive map with over 360 customizable markers. Click around to explore the map, or read on for some insights into the data.

Five Most Common City Names

To kick off the commonly named places, we’ll take a look at the only ones with cities,
towns, CDPs, and villages all named after the same thing. Here’s a breakdown of those five.

• Washington (46 places)
• Franklin (43)
• Clinton (39)
• Centerville (38)
• Arlington (38)

As for the #1 most common place name, a whopping 46 places in the U.S. are named Washington, likely after the nation’s first President. Lots are, of course, cities, including Washington and Washington Terrace, Utah, Ohio’s Washington and Washington Court House, along with Washington and North Washington in Iowa—you get the idea. Many of these Washington-inspired cities are located throughout the Midwest in the previously mentioned Ohio and Iowa, along with Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, and Illinois.

In addition to the 46 mapped cities, towns, villages, and boroughs, etc., we can’t forget about the state of Washington and that there is a Washington County in 31 of the 50 states. Which technically adds up to 91 places. Not to mention the 8th most common U.S. place name, with 33 namesakes, Georgetown, is often named due to this particular George, among a few others.

Other common place names likely inspired by past statesmen are Franklin (as in Benjamin), with 43 copycat locations, and Clinton (a New York family with a vice president and two governors, and more) with 39. But we can’t forget about the others on the map, including Greenville (31), formerly known as Buttsville. Clearly the most common of these are cities, but let’s investigate the other types next.

Top Five Types

While Washington outranked Franklin above, when it comes to cities bearing their names, they’re just about even. Both have 16 scattered around the country and an equal (8) amount of towns. On the other hand, 14 cities are named for one Clinton or another.

Instead of cities, unincorporated communities (10) are the most common place named after Centerville, along with three places that just call themselves unincorporated, though cities are right behind at 9. And exactly 10 cities are dubbed Arlington, in addition to seven ​​unincorporated communities.

For a more detailed breakdown of the rest of the common place names, check out the map. As for an overall breakdown?

• city (114)
• town (92)
• CDP (37)
• village (30)
• unincorporated community (30)

With an idea of the five most common names and their types, let’s move on to the coast with the most.

The Coast with the Most Commonly Named Places

The map makes the Midwest and East Coast’s preference towards these common names clear (though that coast did have a 200-year head start). Specifically, Illinois is home to 21 commonly named places, including eight Centerville’s and two Arlington’s, Clinton’s, Fairview’s, and Washington’s. New York, on the other hand, is full of 20 other popular city names like four Clinton’s and three Greenville’s and Washington’s.

Aso thanks to the map, we clearly note contiguous Nevada and New Mexico come up with all original names for their cities and towns—at least where these common names are concerned. Both of these states, along with Alaska and Hawaii, have zero places named after those we’ve mentioned.

What else becomes obvious is that maps illuminate insights we might otherwise miss. See what our free map-making tool can illuminate in your data at batchgeo.com.

There are billions of people on the planet, all with varying quality of healthcare, economic circumstances, diet and exercise regimes, and genetic predispositions. Even with all these factors, biologists have been estimating the average life expectancy of human beings for centuries. While it’s generally increased, thanks to advancements in medicine and technology and a growing understanding of how to lead a healthy lifestyle, your life expectancy still differs depending on your country.

We’ll examine the average life expectancy of 183 countries, including the differences between males and females in each location. We’ll also look at which countries have seen the largest change (be that an increase or decrease in life expectancy) in recent years on the map below.

View Country by Country Life Expectancy in a full screen map

The map contains the World Health Organization’s 2019 data via Wikipedia. Multiple ways of sorting the map include various things (male, female, both, and changes) of the following four things: life expectancy at birth and at age 60 along with Health-adjusted Life Expectancy (HALE) at birth and again at 60. Let’s begin with the life expectancy at birth of both sexes.

Japan Life Expectancy Is Best & 9 More Long-Living Countries

Each of the countries listed below has male and female life expectancies at birth over 82.5 years. One location’s average is as high as 84.3 years, though the median life expectancy of the top 10 is 83.15 years.

1. Japan
2. Switzerland
3. South Korea
4. Singapore (tied with Spain)
5. Spain (tied with Singapore)
6. Cyprus
7. Australia (tied with Italy and Norway)
8. Italy (tied with Australia and Norway)
9. Norway (tied with Australia and Italy)
10. Israel

As mentioned, the Japan life expectancy is the highest of the world’s 183 countries at 84.3 years. Many attribute the high life expectancy in Japan to a diet traditionally high in seafood and low in wheat. It’s no wonder the country also has one of the lowest rates of obesity.

Switzerland (83.4) and South Korea (83.3) are within 0.9-1 years of the life expectancy of Japan. Similarly, Singapore and Spain are tied with life expectancies of (83.2) while Cyprus’s is .1 less at 83.1. The life expectancy in Italy, Australia, and Norway is 83. Finally, Israel (82.6) rounds out the 10 countries with life expectancies above 82.5 years. You’ll note these 10 countries are distributed among four continents: five are in Europe, four in Asia, and, of course, Australia.

As for countries that just missed the mark, the France life expectancy is 82.5 years, making it the 11th country with the highest life expectancy. Just below France, the Sweden life expectancy (tied with Luxembourg) is #12 at 82.4 years.

Surprisingly Low Life Expectancy Leaders

No country in either North or South America appears on the list of the 10 countries with the highest life expectancy. Canada is home to the longest living population in the either of Americas, though it’s still further down at #15.

If you’re wondering where world leaders like the United States and China stand, they’re surprisingly low. The U.S.’s average life expectancy is 78.5 years, making it #40. As for the life expectancy in China, the country falls even lower than the U.S. The China life expectancy is 77.4 years (#48). Let’s move on to a more positive metric, though life expectancy changes also contain a couple of negative stats.

Notable Changes in Life Expectancy

More than countries with the longest-living populations or those with shorter lifespans, quite a few places saw notable changes in their life expectancy. Occurring between 2000 and 2019, most are a positive increase, though it’s not the case for every country.

Places with Positive Increases

The 10 countries with the largest increases in life expectancy are all located in the various regions of Africa. This includes the following seven East African countries:

• Rwanda (+21.6 years)
• Malawi (+20.9)
• Burundi (+20)
• Ethiopia (+18.1)
• Zambia (+18)
• Uganda (+17.9)
• Tanzania (+14.8)

As of 2019, Rwanda’s new average life expectancy is 69.1 years. That of Malawi has risen to 65.6. The life expectancy of Burundi’s population has been updated to 63.8 years while Ethiopia’s stands at 68.7. Those who live in Zambia now have a life expectancy of 62.5 years, Uganda now equals 66.7, and Tanzania 67.3 years.

In addition to the seven countries in East Africa, three Southern Africa countries have seen a significant increase in their life expectancy. These include Botswana (+16.6 years), Zimbabwe (+14.1), and Angola (+13.8).

Locations with Less Life to Live

Now, changes in life expectancy aren’t all positive. Some countries’ life expectancies have actually gone down in recent years. Since 2000, the life expectancy of those who live in the Dominican Republic has decreased by -0.4 years to 72.8 years. Additionally, Venezuela has also seen a decrease in life expectancy since the beginning of the century (-0.2 years). The South American country’s current average is 73.9 years.

View Your Maps on Google Earth

We zeroed in on the life expectancy at birth estimation. However, there is also information on how long people live once they hit their 60s, along with healthy life expectancy. This is the average number of years that a person can expect to live in “full health” (and a more recently adapted estimation). Explore the map to learn more about these groups.

There’s a lot you can do with BatchGeo: group your additional data, embed maps to your website, and email them to friends. But there may be occasions when you need your maps in the format of another popular mapping tool. Instead of starting from scratch, you can export a KML file to view Your Maps in the likes of Google Earth, Google Maps, ArcMap.

To find out more about exporting KLM, visit our page on how to Generate Google Earth KML documents. Otherwise, get started making your own flexible maps at batchgeo.com.