Category: Borders
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Memorable Crossings (Mexico)
I examined several border crossings between South Africa and its neighbors that are available in Google Street View in the previous installment of this series. This time I move back across the Atlantic Ocean to North America, examining similar situations in Mexico where there is actually much greater image coverage. United States There are numerous…
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Memorable Crossings (South Africa)
Google Street View came to South Africa as part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It remains the only portion of continental Africa[1] with Street View coverage as of the time I posted this in February 2011. So it definitely provides opportunities to explore South Africa. However, it leaves me wanting for images of its…
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International Clip
I’ve always had a thing about collecting and counting geography. You’ve seen plenty of examples of that on Twelve Mile Circle before. For example, reference my ongoing tally of U.S. counties that I have visited. Sometimes these “visits” are exceedingly brief, even measuring to mere seconds. Yet, they still count according to the arbitrary rules…
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Erasing Van Buren
Political debates come and go. What happens, however, when people live in a place named after a politician they despise? That doesn’t happen very often anymore. Just about every geographic location got its name a long time ago, at least in the United States. The nation expanded furiously in the first half of the Nineteenth…
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Vulnerable to Invasion
All our talk of invasions, mostly imagined, got me thinking. What about the actual invasions of the United States? Oceans on either side certainly limited the possibilities and reduced the number of occurrences to a mere handful. So how many times have invaders assaulted the United States? As with much we discuss on the Twelve…
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My Ridiculous Historic Parallel
My interest in history is probably as great as my interest in geography. So naturally that’s a theme I’ve woven into Twelve Mile Circle quite regularly. Keeping that in mind, I’ve grown ever-excited as events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Civil War approach. Activities will escalate rapidly on April 12, 2011 with the…
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Fanciful States
I often see queries on the site along the lines of “Map of counties in State X that border on State Y.” I’m not entirely sure why this is a topic of such interest but apparently there are people who care about such things. There aren’t a lot of resources on this monumental topic so…
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Leap Year Capital of the World
Every town craves a little positive attention, maybe create a little local pride, distinguish itself from its neighbors and bring in a few tourist dollars if it’s particularly lucky. However, the universe of remarkable characteristics that puts a place on the map remains pretty limited. What can a small town do when nobody of international…
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Appalachian Trail Counties
For a long time I’ve wondered what would happen if a county counter hiked the Appalachian Trail. I know that’s not a normal curiosity. I’m not the type of person to move in lockstep with everyone else though. However, I am not interested in walking the Appalachian Trail. I am sure the wonders and hardships…
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Right Up to the Line (again)
This is my second attempt to present this article, following the debacle yesterday evening when I posted a rough outline. That was the first time I’d hit the publish button prematurely in nearly 500 articles. I suppose it was bound to happen eventually. Hopefully it didn’t cause too much confusion. The whole point of this…