Why Here?

Every place has a reason. I find the weirdest ones. Daily threads on the geography that wrote history.

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

Random fact: Lincoln's first VP wasn't Andrew Johnson. It was a guy named Hannibal Hamlin from Maine. Hardcore abolitionist, the real kind. So consistently anti-slavery that Southern papers used to spread rumors he was secretly part Black because they couldn't process it.
Lincoln dropped him in 1864 to balance the ticket with a Southern Democrat. That was Andrew Johnson. Six weeks after the inauguration, Lincoln got shot. Johnson became president and proceeded to gut Reconstruction.
If Hamlin had stayed on, the next century of American race relations probably looks completely different.
Anyway. He died in 1891 playing cards at a club in Bangor, Maine. Mostly forgotten.

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

In 1324, a king from West Africa traveled to Mecca.

His name was Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali Empire. He brought 60,000 attendants and 80 camels — each carrying ~140 kg of pure gold.

Then he spent it. 🧵

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

Estimates of his wealth, adjusted for inflation, range up to $400 billion in today's dollars.

By every modern measure, Mansa Musa is the richest person who has ever lived.

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

In 1324, a king from West Africa traveled to Mecca.

His name was Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali Empire. He brought 60,000 attendants and 80 camels — each carrying ~140 kg of pure gold.

Then he spent it. 🧵

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

The result: the value of gold in Cairo collapsed.

Mansa Musa's generosity flooded the Egyptian market with so much gold that the price didn't recover for ~10 years. Egyptian merchants went bankrupt. The Cairo economy entered a depression.

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

In July 1518, a woman named Frau Troffea stepped into a street in Strasbourg and started dancing.

She danced for six days. Within a month, ~400 people had joined her, dancing uncontrollably in the streets.

Dozens died from heart attacks, strokes, and exhaustion.

The cause has never been determined.

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

This is Llívia — a Spanish town surrounded by France.

In 1659 (Treaty of the Pyrenees) Spain ceded all "villages" north of the Pyrenees. Llívia was technically a "town." So Spain kept it.

365 years later, it's still Spanish. A legal accident frozen by careful diplomatic word choice.

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

Which of these national capitals is NOT a coastal city?

🔵 Lima
🟢 Wellington
🟡 Madrid
🔴 Lisbon

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

Today, Singapore's port is one of the two busiest in the world.

The whole country is essentially a toll booth on the highway between Asia and Europe. Geography handed it the world's best location.

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

Singapore should not be a country.

It has no natural resources. No fresh water. No agricultural land. Smaller than the city of Phoenix.

And yet it has one of the highest GDPs per capita on Earth. Why? 🧵

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

In 1965, Malaysia kicked Singapore out of the federation. Lee Kuan Yew cried on TV.

But what they got was a country at the most valuable point of a global trade route. With nothing to do BUT trade.

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

The shortest war in history lasted 38 minutes.

On August 27, 1896, Britain bombarded the Sultan's palace in Zanzibar after a succession dispute. The Sultan surrendered before 9:45am.

~500 Zanzibari soldiers killed. British: one sailor wounded.

By lunchtime, the war was over.

[World of Statistics @stats_feed]

75% of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and 5 animal species.

Top plants:

1. Sugar
2. Maize
3. Rice
4. Wheat
5. Potatoes
6. Soy beans
7. Cassava
8. Tomatoes
9. Banana
10. Onions
11. Apples
12. Grapes

Top animals:

1. Beef and milk
2. Chicken and eggs
3. Pork
4. Goat milk and meat
5. Sheep

(United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization)

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

@BrilliantMaps There was a huge campaign that was part of the initial promises made by the new Government and they did a pretty good job at this!

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

@BrilliantMaps The Java Island is surely a nature's wonder because anywhere else it would not be possible to see the density able to survive on a restricted landmass.

[Why Here? @whyherepod]

This is Bir Tawil — 2,060 km² of empty desert between Egypt and Sudan.

Both countries refuse to claim it.

Why? Because of a dispute over a much bigger, more valuable piece of land nearby called the Halaib Triangle. Claiming Bir Tawil means giving up Halaib. Neither will.