We live in a vast and expansive universe. So massive that it would be understandable if you were unaware of some details. It may be rather challenging to stay on top of your geography with 196 countries (or “roughly,” depending on how you count territories like Kosovo, Somaliland, and Taiwan included), countless cities, and borders that are always changing.But being completely ignorant is one thing, and failing to keep up is another whole else entirely. It seems like people in prominent positions always manage to screw up the geography. We’re also not talking about minor slip-ups. This is information that any elementary school student should be able to grasp. Things like…

10. The People Who Used Twitter But Actually Meant the Czech Republic

Three people were killed and more than two hundred and fifty were injured when two explosives went off at the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15, 2013. Both suspects were swiftly identified as being from the dangerous Russian Federation province of Chechnya, which is known for its terrorists, dictatorial leader, and frequent conflicts. Thousands of Americans, rightfully infuriated, resorted to Twitter to express their frustration… directed at the totally unconnected Czech Republic.The Czech Republic, the most populous region of what was once Czechoslovakia, is now a prosperous European Union member state known for its stable government, beer, and ice hockey team. Its president is pro-American. Slightly more than the distance from New York City to Puerto Rico, it is located more than 3,200 kilometres (2,000 miles) from Chechnya. Twitter users continued to call on the US government to attack the Czech Republic and insult notable Czechs despite this.No one on social media was immune to this level of stupidity. Reports from CNN and an ex-CIA analyst implicated the Czech Republic in the bombs. The Czech ambassador to the United States had to publicly ask Americans to cease pointing fingers at his nation because things had gotten out of hand.

9. The Researchers Who Lost £2 Million Due to Their Ill-Advised Use of UK Maps

The United Kingdom can be a bit of a mystery to those from other countries. Great Britain is not just one country or island, but rather the confederation of Northern Ireland, the three British Isles (Scotland, Wales, and England), and the United Kingdom itself. You might expect that, but Americans and Europeans often get this wrong. Surprisingly, a £2 million lawsuit was sparked after one of the country’s top brains inadvertently messed up the concept.Millions were left behind when Welsh scientist Michael Crowley-Milling passed away in 2012; he had a hand in creating the touchscreen. The entirety of his wealth “within the UK” was designated for the benefit of the Royal Society in his bequest. Regrettably, the British islands of Jersey and the Isle of Man occurred to be the sole repositories of his money. Regardless of what the professor may have thought, those two islands are not actually part of the UK.Jersey and the Isle of Mann are Crown dependencies, even though they are part of the British Isles and protected by the UK. It was OK for Crowley-Milling to make a mistake as many individuals in the UK are unaware of this. Less so was the legal struggle it sparked. The Royal Society and the professor’s family ended up spending £2 million on a court battle. The Royal Society finally won after months of litigation and hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills.

8. The Wrong Country: Westboro Baptist Protests

Picketing military funerals, as well as their prejudice and bizarre antics, have brought the Westboro Baptist Church widespread notoriety. They demonstrate in the most annoying way possible against the United States and other countries that tolerate homosexuality, with placards reading “fag enabler” and similar phrases.It is therefore not surprising that the church chose Ireland as its target after the country passed its historic same-sex marriage bill in 2015. Almost immediately after the new law was drafted, members of the Westboro Baptist Church uploaded a video showing themselves dancing on and desecrating Irish flags. Is it the sole issue? The incorrect flag was unintentionally used.It’s hard to tell Ireland and the Ivory Coast apart from each other’s flags. This is a perfect example of how reversing the colours makes them indistinguishable. The Westboro Baptist Church inadvertently obtained flags from the Ivory Coast and then slandered them. Attempts were made by the hate organisation to go backwards, stating that they had purposefully used the incorrect flag to demonstrate that Ireland was a “nation in distress.” All they’ve proven, in our opinion, is how incredibly stupid they are.

7. The People of Peru Receive Venezuela from Dick Cheney

One of the GOP’s favourite boogeymen was Hugo Chavez, the dictator of Venezuela, until his death in 2013. Chavez was particularly unpopular with Bush’s administration due to his anti-US Marxist views and tendency to blame Washington for anything from poor weather to his own cancer. Vice President Dick Cheney unwittingly elevated Hugo Chavez to the position of ruler of Peru during a 2007 statement he gave in reference to the president of Venezuela.Cheney emphasised that “the people of Peru deserve better” while critiquing Chavez. Then, in what was either a comical faux pas or a subtle call for Lima to go to war with Caracas, he said that only the Peruvian people could depose Chavez.The distance between Venezuela and Peru is more than 800 kilometres (500 mi), with Ecuador and Colombia occupying the space in between. Beginning in Paris, one might drive through the entirety of Belgium and the Netherlands, almost reaching Denmark, before reaching such a distance. Worst of all, Cheney delivered his speech while serving as a guest speaker for the World Affairs Council, an organisation whose stated goal is to inform American residents about global geography and current events.

6. The Falkland Islands Are Now Part of Asia, Thanks to Obama

Argentina and Britain have long been at odds over the Falklands, a small archipelago off the coast of South America. The islands are formally controlled by the UK as an overseas territory, similar to how Guam is by the US.This is disputed by Argentina. The Falklands are referred to as Las Malvinas in Buenos Aires and are regarded as an extension of Argentina. In June 1982, the two nations went to war over the matter; the United States formally maintained its neutrality throughout the conflict. Since then, the United States has maintained its stance, officially naming the islands the Falklands and Malvinas. Except if you’re Barack Obama, who rechristened the archipelago the Maldives after deciding the term Las Malvinas was too dated.Those living in the Maldives and the Falkland Islands were undoubtedly surprised to hear this. A group of South Asian islands, the Maldives are geographically so far away from the Falklands that assigning a numerical value to their distance is almost pointless. The distance involved could not be covered by travelling from Canada to the very tip of South America. The British press asserted that Obama appeared more prone to accidents than George W. Bush as a result of the massive mistake.

5. CNN Shifts Urge to Pakistan

Just in case you were wondering, how are Pakistan and Ukraine similar? Wow, have you ever thought about working for CNN if your response was: “They’re both dealing with a complex insurgency exacerbated by regional powers”? You would be far more effective than the current leader. The news network apparently had to deal with the identical issue in 2014, yet their response was remarkably fresh: Both countries, they said, were geographically located inside Pakistan.A CNN reporter utilised a helpful chart to clarify the situation for viewers as they reported on the conflict in Ukraine’s Donbass region. The map expertly labelled the Muslim country ravaged by conflict as “Ukraine,” but alas, it swiftly turned away from Europe and back to Pakistan. Unfortunately, CNN’s graphic mishap wasn’t an isolated incident. Within the same year, they had made a map that misplaced London in the United Kingdom, and in 2013, another one had put Hong Kong in South America.Conversely, CNN might merely be a reflection of the general populace. Americans were asked to locate Ukraine on a map in a Washington Post research that was released before the CNN gaffe. You guessed it: most people wanted it to be located close to Pakistan.

4. Numerous National Anthems in the Sports World Fall Flat

Coming from a lower-tier nation must be challenging. Nobody can even tell you where you are on a map, and they often mistake you for somewhere else entirely. Competitions in athletic events hammer this point home. Organisers getting the national anthems of larger countries mixed up is a joke, but for smaller countries, it’s a constant insult.For example, in 2015, during the National Athletics Championship in China, Ukrainian athlete Oleg Verniaiev was made to listen to the national anthem of Uzbekistan, a country that is approximately as distant from his own as Nicaragua is from Texas, when he accepted his gold medal. In 2015, during the youth championships in Serbia, the Armenian national song was played in honour of an Azerbaijani athlete. The battle between Azerbaijan and Armenia has lasted for almost twenty years.At least these nations aren’t joking around. Kazakhstan is an exception. The phoney national song from the 2006 comedy film Borat has been played repeatedly during medal ceremonies honouring Kazakh athletes. Somebody should have figured it out by now that the phoney national anthem in question boasts that “all other countries run by little girls” and makes allusions to the amazing prostitutes in Kazakhstan.

3. Perry, Rick’s Annexes A Nation Is Constructed by a Mexican City

Up until very recently, Juarez was known as the murder capital of the world. With a population of 1.3 million and an average of eight kidnappings per day, 3,057 murders occurred there between 2010 and 2012. All was controlled by cartels. A haze of drugs enveloped the metropolis. Consider all of that, and then tell me which nation you think Juarez is from. The answer seems to be “the United States of America” if you’re Rick Perry.”The most dangerous city in America” was Perry’s 2011 designation for this Mexican metropolis. Although it shares a border with El Paso, Juarez is not considered a part of Texas in the same way that Detroit is not considered a part of Canada, despite its proximity to the United States. People started making fun of Perry’s remarks by claiming he was going to annexe Juarez as part of his plan to further expand the Texas border.The biggest geographical blunder that Perry committed was even more ridiculous than the Juarez gaffe. The governor of Texas performed a magical creation of an entirely new nation later that year. He began to criticise the government’s decision to send millions of dollars to “the country Solyndra” halfway through his address. Just so you know, there has never been or is now a nation named Solyndra. The name actually belongs to a solar panel manufacturer that took millions of dollars in government funding before going bankrupt. It was a valid point to raise, but it was certainly not the geopolitical explosive that Perry painted it as.

2. Nicaragua Invades Costa Rica By Complete Accident

It’s one thing to appear stupid when you make a huge mistake in geography. It’s a whole different ballgame when your blunder paints you as a territorial aggressor. As early as 2010, military commander Eden Pastora of Nicaragua began conducting patrols close to the border with Costa Rica. When his patrol saw a Costa Rican flag flying in the opposite direction, they boldly tore it down and replaced it with a Nicaraguan flag. One issue remained. Down on the other side of the border, Costa Rican flags were fluttering.Because they weren’t paying attention to their surroundings, Pastora and his men inadvertently invaded a neighbouring country—a country with whom Nicaragua has very tense relations. Costa Rica’s defiant response was to send more police to the border. New reinforcements from Nicaragua arrived. The United Nations Security Council and the Organisation of American States had to move swiftly to arbitrate a solution in order to prevent the crisis from turning into a full-scale war.This diplomatic dispute persisted for a total of five years. In 2015, the matter was finally decided when the International Court of Justice determined that the land Pastora had marched on unmistakably belonged to Costa Rica.

1. Almost Everybody Is Misleading About Slovenia

The small Slovenian region broke away from Yugoslavia after a brutal 10-day battle in June 1991. After two years of peaceful secession, Czechoslovakia was dissolved when Slovakia broke away from the Czech Republic. Since then, it appears that nobody on this planet can distinguish between these two sovereign nations.Similar names aren’t the root of the problem. Slovene is roughly the size of New Jersey, while Slovakia is roughly twice that size; both nations are little, located in Eastern Europe, and were formerly governed by communists. On the left side of each flag is a shield, and the flags’ three horizontal stripes are red, white, and blue. And people always mistake one for the other.On one occasion, George W. Bush expressed his eagerness to talk about Slovakia with Slovenia’s prime minister. The prime minister of Slovenia was introduced by Silvio Berlusconi, whose country borders Slovenia, as his equivalent in Slovakia. Memos pertaining to Slovenia have been sent to Slovakia on multiple occasions by the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, and vice versa. When Slovakia and Slovenia send letters to the wrong address, diplomatic staff from both countries often meet together to swap addresses. Pages on the official tourist websites of both Slovenia and Slovakia tetchily inform tourists that the two nations are distinct.The parliament of Slovenia was so fed up with the situation in 2004 that it contemplated a possible name change and flag redesign. It might be worse. If they were the Slavonia section of Croatia, they would have to endure the constant confusion with Slovenia and Slovakia and never even get the chance to be a true nation. At times, the laws of geography can be quite harsh.

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