The hottest Geography Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top History Topics

For Pete's Sake

Street Smart Naturalist: Explorations of the Urban Kind • 179 implied HN points • 24 Mar 22
🎭️ Culture History Geography
  1. Place names like Mount Rainier and Puget Sound come from explorers who wanted to honor their friends. These names have interesting stories connected to their origins, linking back to significant historical figures.
  2. Both Rainier and Puget have Huguenot heritage, tracing their family histories back to France. Their family stories reflect the impact of religious persecution in their homeland, which led them to new places.
  3. Indigenous names for these places have rich meanings based on a deep understanding of the land. Today, many people are reconsidering the significance of place names and their histories, aiming for more just and inclusive naming practices.

Silicon Valley Generation Shift

Breaking Smart • 83 implied HN points • 25 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Silicon Valley Geography Chip Design
  1. Silicon Valley is experiencing a generation shift in tech with the return of silicon fabrication to the region.
  2. The passing of Gordon Moore marks a significant moment in the tech industry and highlights the renewal underway.
  3. Actual silicon manufacturing hasn't been a common practice in Silicon Valley for decades, with most fabs moving to Asia.

Seven Hills of Seattle

Street Smart Naturalist: Explorations of the Urban Kind • 59 implied HN points • 06 Oct 22
🎭️ Culture Geography History Literature Urban Studies
  1. Seattle is famously said to be built on seven hills, but there’s some debate about which hills should be counted. Some people agree with the original list of hills, while others suggest different ones.
  2. The hills of Seattle have been both a source of pride and challenges for the city. They created scenic views but also made travel and construction difficult.
  3. Over time, the idea of Seattle's 'seven hills' has changed. Today, the commonly accepted hills reflect a mix of history and geography, with names that have transitioned through the years.

Happy Valentine's Day

Street Smart Naturalist: Explorations of the Urban Kind • 99 implied HN points • 14 Feb 22
🎭️ Culture History Art Literature Traditions Geography
  1. The newsletter includes a special Valentine's Day message. It's a nice way to celebrate the day with readers.
  2. A historic map of Seattle from 1907 is featured, showing how the city was expected to grow and change over time.
  3. This specific post is meant for paid subscribers, highlighting exclusive content for those who support the newsletter.
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Map of Maps

Street Smart Naturalist: Explorations of the Urban Kind • 99 implied HN points • 09 Dec 21
🎭️ Culture Maps Art Geography Urban Studies Community
  1. Maps can show us unique aspects of the places we live, like different features and stories about our communities.
  2. Using maps can help us connect with our surroundings better, as they give us a broader view than just following GPS on our phones.
  3. Exploring local maps can bring new insights into our cities and encourage us to appreciate the history and art around us.

North by Northwest

Street Smart Naturalist: Explorations of the Urban Kind • 59 implied HN points • 14 Apr 22
🎭️ Culture Urban Studies Geography Psychology Sociology Lifestyle
  1. People who grew up in complicated road systems tend to have better navigation skills. This is because they learned to remember directions and landmarks while making many turns.
  2. Seattle has unique navigation aids like directional parking signs and special street patterns to help people find their way. The city's streets are not laid out in a simple grid, which can make navigation tricky.
  3. Natural features, like mountains, can help with orientation in a city. They serve as a consistent point of reference, making it easier to know which way to go.

Superb Halos

GOOD INTERNET • 13 implied HN points • 17 Jan 24
🔬 Science Optics Meteorology Physics Geography History
  1. Atmospheric ice crystal optics can create superb halos that are visually stunning and fascinating.
  2. Halos are optical phenomena caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere, with different types like the 22° Halo.
  3. Kenneth Libbrecht, known as the "pope of snow crystals," released a monograph explaining the formation of ice crystals and snowflakes.

A Revolution in Cartography

The Oswald Spengler Project • 2 HN points • 14 May 24
🚌 Education History Geography Culture Research Translation
  1. Spengler emphasized the importance of updating historical maps to reflect the latest research findings and to aid in understanding the development of civilizations over time.
  2. He proposed a new approach to cartography, stressing the need to include geographical details like terrain, agriculture, and migration routes to enhance historical analyses.
  3. Collaboration between experts from multiple disciplines is crucial in creating comprehensive maps that can visually represent historical, cultural, and anthropological data for better understanding.

VOL 61: Why Is Russia the Largest Country in the World?

MAP's Tech Newsletter. • 4 implied HN points • 12 May 23
💾 History Geography Imperialism Soviet Union Expansion Philosophy
  1. Russia is the largest country in the world, occupying one-tenth of the land on the entire planet.
  2. Russia's size can be attributed to historical, geographic, and political factors, with territories inherited from the Soviet Union and acquisitions throughout history.
  3. Russia's vast territories were relatively easier to expand into due to low population, geography, and historical events like the imperial expansion from the medieval era to the Soviet era.

On Carpetbagging

Matt’s Five Points • 0 implied HN points • 06 Oct 11
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Congress Elections Representation Political trends Geography
  1. Many Senators are not born in the same state they represent. Historically, about 58% of them are from their state, but this has changed over time.
  2. Western expansion influenced where politicians were born, with more from the east initially moving to the western states. This has led to changing patterns of where politicians are from.
  3. Senators tend to have less local connection compared to House Representatives. This difference has narrowed since Senators started being elected by the public more often after 1914.

Grace Menninger: Invisible Hand

Do Not Research • 0 implied HN points • 05 Jul 21
🎭️ Culture Religion Capitalism Geography History Identity
  1. The United States is deeply shaped by the intersection of religion and capitalism, evident in places like factories and churches that dominate the landscape.
  2. American Protestantism and Mormonism exemplify how religion and capitalism intertwine, with Protestantism showcasing the country's work ethic and devotion, and Mormonism reflecting a blend of Christian faith and financial interests.
  3. The Midwest landscapes convey a sense of divine apocalypse through elements like tornado-twisted trees, abandoned factories, endless train tracks, and the eerie coexistence of religious symbols and capitalist remnants.

Ruba Al-Sweel: The Map of Hell

Do Not Research • 0 implied HN points • 15 Feb 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Visual art Internet culture Geography Cultural influence
  1. The Map of Hell project is inspired by works by Sandro Botticelli and Caroline Busta, reimagining the internet as a deepening geological structure with different levels of access.
  2. The art project layers retro Khaleeji music and Arabic pop from the early 2000s, connecting it with the broadband internet era and the global culture created through BitTorrent and Youtube tutorials.
  3. The project sets its absurd journey in an oceanic setting, reflecting the dominance of aquatic terms in internet lingo and hinting at vast undersea cables.

Alex Both: Landforms

Do Not Research • 0 implied HN points • 15 Oct 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Painting Geography Visual Culture Digital Art
  1. The artwork 'Landforms' is an oil painting that depicts a geographical diagram of landforms on a continent, created by merging images from Instagram and Google.
  2. This piece by Alex Both explores capturing attention in a visually busy culture by combining memes and personal photos to form a coherent image.
  3. The artist's process involved using Photoshop to blend and paint various images together in a way that reflects the visual information sharing prevalent in social media.