Category: mapping

4th of July: Not Just for the USA

In the United States, we’ll be celebrating Independence Day this weekend. July 4 marks the signing of America’s Declaration of Independence from England. However, the date is only one of 365 (or 366) dates in existence. Unsurprisingly, other things have happened on this date. If you’re looking for American patriotism, consider this map of over 300 places named after George Washington. For a change of pace, check out these lesser-known July 4 events.

View 4th of July Around the World in a full screen map

While American independence was about a colony separating itself from the rule of a king, there are several royal July 4th events that precede it. In 414, 13 year-old Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II passed the throne to his older sister to rule as regent. In 1120, Jordan II became Prince of Capua when his infant nephew died, in what is now Naples, Italy. About 400 years later, Christian III was elected King of Denmark and Norway. And another half a millennia after that, in 1918, Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascended to the throne. The first and the last of these royal events occurred in Instanbul.

July 4th isn’t just for princes, kings, emperors, and sultans. It’s also a day of wonder. In 1892, there were two July 4ths in Western Samoa, as the state changed the International Date Line. Similarly wondrous are Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In 1862, Lewis Carroll first told the story that three years later to the day would be published as the now-famous book.

The date also factors heavily into WWII history. In Lviv, Ukraine, Nazis massacred Polish scientists and writers. Meanwhile, in Riga, Latvia, saw the Burning of the Riga synagogues. A year later the 250 day Siege of Sevastopol ended with an Axis victory. In 1943, there was the largest full-scale battle in history in Kursk, Russia, as well as a Royal Air Force accident in Gibraltar, Spain.

A few years prior to those war events saw one of the most famous speeches in sports history. Lou Gehrig gave his “Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth” speech to a sold out crowd at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939.

Back in the US, there are a couple of American Revolution era events that aren’t the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In 1754 George Washington surrendered Fort Necessity during the French and Indian War. And on July 4, 1826, early presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day.

Explore the map above to see all 76 culled from this Wikipedia entry. You can also select specific year ranges on the map using BatchGeo’s grouping technology. Clearly, American Independence is not alone when it comes to major July 4 events.

Seven Wonders of the World? More Like 46 Wonders

Humans love lists. You’ll find them across your Facebook feed, and on numerous blogs, but they’re not new. In fact, one of the oldest lists in existence is that of the Seven Wonders of the World. Dating as far back to Ancient Greece, the original Seven Wonders list includes only sights near the Mediterranean, and only the pyramids have lasted these last 2,400 years. Luckily, there are multiple lists of the seven wonders, all available for you to peruse on this BatchGeo map.

View Seven Wonders of the World in a full screen map

The ancient wonders were apparently used as a sort of guidebook for Greek sightseers. Who knew such a thing existed? They included a temple and mausoleum in modern day Turkey, two statues in what is still called Greece, the Lighthouse of Alexandria (Egypt), Gardens of Babylon (Iraq) and the aforementioned Egyptian pyramids. You can still visit the location, ruins, or replicas of the six that no longer exist in their ancient glory.

The other Seven Wonders lists are more recent and most you are able to visit easily. Many are still clustered in Europe, but every continent except Antarctica is represented. Here are the lists themselves. You can use the grouping tool to choose the type of Wonder from the map above.

  • Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
  • Seven Civil Wonders of the World
  • Seven Medieval Wonders of the World
  • New7Wonders Foundation Wonders of the World
  • Seven Natural Wonders of the World
  • Seven Wonders of the Industrial World
  • USA Today’s New Seven Wonders

Two lists have eight wonders. The New7Wonders list added the pyramids as an honorary candidate after controversy over the ancient wonder competing with 20 other finalists. USA Today’s New Seven Wonders added a viewer-chosen eighth wonder after the seven judge-chosen wonders were announced on Good Morning America. Viewers selected the Grand Canyon.

Four Wonders make two lists

Arizona’s sprawling landmark is one of a handful of wonders that make multiple lists. Grand Canyon is on the USA Today’s New Seven Wonders, as well as Wonders of the Natural World. The Great Wall of China and the Colosseum both make the Medieval and New7Wonders lists. The Panama Canal gets the nod for Civil and Industrial Wonders. The pyramids, of course, are an original Wonder, in addition to being on the New7Wonders list.

The farthest from continental land is Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. It also could lay claim to being the largest wonder, at over 140,000 square miles. It dwarfs the Grand Canyon, for example. However, not all Wonders can be measured in square miles. The Great Wall of China is 13,000 miles long.

There are a few Wonders that are difficult to map. Aurora is a naturally occurring phenomenon that causes beautiful light displays in the sky. That it occurs in the sky makes it difficult to map. On top of that, it typically is viewed at high latitude, but not any particular location. The Polar Ice Cap is at 90 degrees latitude and simultaneously at every longitude, making it easier to identify on a globe than a flat map. Lastly, USA Today’s Seven Wonders list included the Internet, which is not physical at all. However, since you’re reading this from the Internet, why don’t we all agree it’s well represented on the interactive map above.

Does Education Influence Incarceration?

Almost one percent of the US population lives in a jail cell. Any time a politically-charged topic like incarceration is discussed, it often involves a discussion of education. The two topics are intertwined because the data suggests at the very least a correlation between one and another. In fact, you can see the connection visually with just two pieces of geographic data. We collected the educational-attainment rates of every US state and combined it with the incarceration rates. When plotted on a map, you can use BatchGeo’s multi-column grouping and filtering to see the relationship between education and incarceration.

View Graduation Rates vs Incarceration Rates in a full screen map

The states with the most prisoners per 100,000 people are Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas, Arizona, Florida, and Arkansas. These states are also at or below the US average of 85% of the population with a high school diploma.

On the flip side, the states with the fewest prison rate are Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. All but Rhode Island have graduation rates well above the US average.

The trend continues throughout the data. Of the 25 states with the highest prison populations, almost half (12) are below the national average for high school graduation rate. By contrast, 80% of the other half of the states, where prison populations at lower, have graduation rates above the national average.

The data is not as convincing for higher levels of education. In fact, there’s no discernible pattern. Perhaps that is why most of the research focuses on high school graduation rates.

The New York Times reported in 2009 that 10% of all dropouts in the US are in jail. That statistic is staggering, especially compared with high school graduates, who only make up 3% of the prison population. Put another way, teens that don’t finish high school are over than three times more likely than their graduated peers to go to jail.

The reverse paints the picture even more dire picture, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics
Special Report from 2003. Statistician Caroline Wolf Harlow found that 59% of America’s federal prison inmates did not complete high school. Further, 75% of America’s state prison inmates are high school dropouts.

There’s some good news, as we get into graduation season. If you know one of the 3.3 million estimated Americans who will graduate this year, they have a much better chance of an unincarcerated future.