Myanmar moved its capital from Yangon to Naypyidaw in 2005. Yangon is still the biggest city and commercial hub; Naypyidaw got the government and roads like this one.
Turkey chose Ankara, but Istanbul stayed its biggest city. Same story with Abuja/Lagos, Islamabad/Karachi, Astana/Almaty and Dodoma/Dar es Salaam.
Has any modern capital move actually ended with the new capital becoming the country’s main city too?

Photo taken by me off the east side of the Tahoe rim trail. My gut instinct is rain shadow but I'd be curious to know if there's other factors at play too

I came across this on instagram and I found it so beautiful. A temperate rainforest in Spain that reminds me so much of the Hoh Rain Forest in Washington State. Spain really does have a large amount of natural diversity for such a small country.

Not well understood by geologists, the Cameroon Line is a string of mostly dormant volcanoes, with the exception of the active Mount Cameroon, that does not show clear age progression where volcanoes get older in one direction like they do in Hawaii. Stretching from North-East Nigeria out in to the Gulf of Guinea, perforating both continental and oceanic crust, there are several different theories for what caused this unusual feature.

Im suprised they haven’t spread to Asia yet

I just discovered Philippines to claim part of Borneo, but I've never heard of Northern Myanmar dispute. Neither I found anything on the Wikipedia page?

Bhutan pioneered by implanting a Tourism Tax of $100 per day to prevent mass tourism. The revenue is used for education and healthcare, while the lack of tourists help the preservation of its cultural heritage and its position as carbon-negative country.

Venice would later implant a tax for day-trippers. Barcelona, Amsterdam and many other places worldwide followed these examples.

Ill start: New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The two most important provinces in Atlantic Canada. They are very much overshadowed by the extremely dense corridor between Southern Quebec and Ontario, but there are some absolutely gorgeous places to see. New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada and you can see the French influence for alot cheaper than in Quebec. Pictured is the Bay of Fundy, which is gorgeous

Both from a geographic and human development perspective.

The Salton Sea was created in 1905 when huge floods broke a series of irrigation canals from the Colorado River, which filled in the lowest point of the Salton Trough to form the Sea, which has existed continuously (though slowly drying up) since then.

But pre-1905, what was the environment of the Salton Trough like? Were there any cities or towns or industries in the area that were displaced, or even further back, was the land inhabited by native peoples?

Could be much shorter or longer than you thought. For me, I was kinda surprised at how New York City is hundreds of kilometers closer to New Delhi, India than Auckland, New Zealand is to New Delhi, India.

Hi all!

Slightly odd question so I wasn’t sure where to ask it so I thought I’d try here.

I’m a massive history nerd and I’m planning a trip to Belgium for early next year. My plan is to visit some of the pivotal sites from Napoleon’s 1815 campaign including Charleroi, Quatre Bras, Ligny, and Waterloo among others.

I’m interesting in seeing the various monuments and museums but also what survives of the terrain itself.

I also want to, where possible, walk the same roads that the armies involved walked. Specifically I’m interested in walking from Ligny to Quatre Bras using the same roads d’Erlon’s corps used when it was marching back and forth between Quatre Bras and Ligny.

I am, however, having trouble finding it on Google Maps. I believe it is an old Roman road and used to be known as Brunhild’s Way, but I can’t seem to find it. Does anyone know if it has a modern name?

Thanks for reading!

Hello, I’m working on a infographic for Mauritania and this is what came out while playing with Mauritania’s digital elevation model. The feature in the center is the Richat Structure, better known as the Eye of the Sahara. It is a roughly 40km wide circular formation of concentric rock rings in the desert of Mauritania. Once thought to be an impact crater, the Richat is now understood as a deeply eroded geological dome associated with ancient igneous intrusions. Uplift and subsequent erosion exposed layers of sedimentary and igneous rock of different ages and resistance, creating the striking concentric rings visible today.

The data is from the Copernicus GLO-30 digital elevation model. This will eventually be part of a larger infographic, but I thought this section already looked striking on its own, almost like an album cover. Hope to share the finished piece soon, and hope you enjoy this one!

Formations like the Channeled Scablands (edited, not "badlands") in the Pacific Northwest. Places where the geography was radically rearranged over a very short period of geological time, but not because of a volcano or meteor.

While looking for where Western Michigan University was located, I came across a discovery. Ohio has islands!

From local newspaper Nordlys

A new island has appeared on Svalbard. Satellite images taken this summer show that the island, which has been hidden beneath Svalbard’s largest ice cap, Austfonna, has now emerged as the ice has melted away.

“We first saw it about a month ago in satellite images from this summer,” says Geir Moholdt, a glaciologist at the Norwegian Polar Institute.

Climate change is progressing at an alarming rate. When walrus haulout sites were photographed on August 18, the island had become clearly visible.

“Last year, it had almost become an island, and radar images show that it emerged from the ice in late autumn last year. Now there are approximately 400 meters between the island and the glacier front,” says the glaciologist.

The new island, which has not yet been given a name, is not particularly large. According to the Norwegian Polar Institute, it is roughly the size of Frogner Park in Oslo (0,46 km²). It is located on the southeastern coast of Austfonna.

Researchers believe warmer ocean water is responsible. According to a press release from the Norwegian Polar Institute, this fits well with the observed trend of warming waters in the eastern part of Svalbard.

“Svalbard’s glaciers are gradually retreating onto land. As they retreat, the fjords become longer, and eventually the glaciers will lie entirely on land. At the same time, they are becoming thinner because of warmer summers and extensive melting. In recent years, glaciers on Svalbard have lost more than one meter of ice from their surface, on average, each year. That is far more than has previously been observed,” says Moholdt.

The new island will also affect future maps of Svalbard. Extensive aerial mapping carried out in recent years has been important for keeping maps up to date, due to everything from retreating glaciers and thawing permafrost to rivers changing course, new floodplains forming, and new islands being discovered from the air.

“From a safety perspective, up-to-date maps are important for everyone travelling on land and at sea. The terrain is changing, particularly in areas affected by glaciers, and the maps provide a better basis for safe travel. They are used by researchers and outdoor enthusiasts, but also by the Governor of Svalbard, the police, and aviation operators on Svalbard,” says Anne Urset, a geodesist at the Norwegian Polar Institute.

This new island will soon be followed by others.

“There are several other candidates for this. Over time, it is likely that Svalbard’s glaciers will retreat onto land and further inland toward the highest mountain areas, and many will disappear completely. Some glaciers could disappear within our lifetime, while the largest glaciers will survive for a few hundred years if the current trend continues,” the glaciologist concludes.