GEOGRAPHY

11 Apps That Will Make You Feel Smarter

Your smartphone is the window to all the knowledge in the world—and these apps will help you unlock it.

The sign on the train station platform helps you pronounce this 58-letter-long Welsh town name.

11 Weird Place Names From Around the World

Is Eggs and Bacon Bay as delicious as it sounds? Will the Disappointment Islands disappoint you? Find out here.

The World’s Steepest Street Is in Harlech, Wales

Will New Zealand decide to repave Baldwin Street to steal back the honor from Wales? One resident hopes so.

Srinivasan Ramaswamy, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The U.S.-Canada Border Runs Directly Through This Library

The library’s official entrance is on the U.S. side of the building, but most of the books are on the Canadian side.

Are You Smart Enough to Pass Thomas Edison's Impossible Employment Test?

Thomas Edison's 146-question employment test was so difficult that the inventor's own son—as well as Albert Einstein—reportedly flunked it.

Why is North Always Up on Maps?

Magnetic north is shifting towards Siberia, but that doesn't quite explain why maps put north at the top.

11 Totally Redundant Place Names

Pendle Hill is really Hill Hill Hill. Here are 11 others like that.

Meet the Exclusive Travel Club for People Who Have Been to 100 or More Countries

It has about 1500 members.

8 Hand-Drawn Maps and Illustrations from a 16th-Century Navigational Guide

Les Premières Œuvres de Jacques Devaulx showed the way to the New World in 1583.

Inside the Coldest City in the World, Where It Snows 270 Days a Year

Norilsk is among Russia's coldest, richest, and most polluted places—and 175,000 people call it home.

The 10 Most Stressed-Out States in America

Take a deep breath and read on.

See How Metros in the World's Biggest Cities Intersect on Aerial Maps

See cities like London and New York as you've never seen them before.

The Florida Beach Town Where the Amish Go on Vacation

With the arrival of low temperatures and the slowdown of the farming season, thousands of Amish people in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania will pack their bags and head south to "The Amish Las Vegas."

Michael Swigart, Flickr // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

15 U.S. Town and City Names With Unusual Backstories

While many towns in the U.S. were named after historical figures or nearby topographical phenomena, some monikers have origin stories that are a little more unusual.