In a report released earlier this week, the National Geographic Society announced the results of a recent survey of geographic knowledge among young persons (ages 18 to 24), from nine different countries. Conducted with the assistance of the RoperASW group, the survey revealed some rather disturbing gaps in the geographic knowledge base of young Americans and other young people around the world. Among the young people surveyed in the United States, nearly 30 percent could not locate the Pacific Ocean and more than half could not locate India, home of almost 20 percent of the world's population. John Fahey, the president of the National Geographic Society, also commented that, while nine out of 1young Americans could identify the United States on a world map, "it does make you wonder about the other 10 percent."

The first link leads to a recent news article on this geographic survey that appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times. The second link will take visitors to the results of the National Geographic Survey, which also provides a sample quiz for persons to test their own geographic knowledge. Also sponsored by National Geographic, the third link features dozens of helpful thematic maps, dealing with historical and contemporary themes, such as political and cultural maps of the world. The fourth link leads to a 2001 report on improving secondary geographic education from the Royal Geographic Society. Provided by the Environmental Design Library at the University of California at Berkeley, the fifth site is an excellent annotated bibliography of source material for persons interested in learning and researching the cultural landscape of the United States. The sixth link leads to some famous remarks given by Carl Sauer (one of the 20th century's most respected geographers) on the subject of historical geography and its importance to understanding human communities. The final link leads to a sardonic editorial by Gillian Ferguson of the Scotsman newspaper in Scotland on these recent survey results.