Playing Atlas to Reading Geopolitics: My Obsession with Maps and Flags of Countries from Around the World

A-T-L-A-S, and began the game where we name hundreds of cities, countries, etc. I was a champion at the game of "Atlas." If I had to play "Atlas" today, I might be able to do better. Playing this game made me know the names of places, and it also encouraged me to find out the names of new places across the globe, and there was only one way to do so, by buying and reading the latest "Oxford School Atlas". That book was my introduction to the world outside Delhi and India. From class 4 to 8, I bought the latest edition of the Oxford Atlas each and every year and learned the names of the capital cities of every country mentioned in it. I also learned the flags of every country mentioned in it, played lots of online quizzes about flags and capitals and spent my leisure time on Google Earth. After class 8, the obsession and motivation to read the Atlas just died. 

Until last year, when I had nothing to do in the pandemic, I found a random video on YouTube about "Facts about Flags of Countries." Then I went into a rabbit hole, and nostalgia hit me hard. From that video, I landed upon a video about "Geopolitics Around The Globe" and then went into another rabbit hole, but this time it was different. It was a whole new perspective of looking at maps. A perspective that is full of references from geography, politics, and history. That was my introduction to geopolitics, but what does geopolitics revolve around? A Geopolitical Region.

A Geopolitical region is a region that is influenced by the politics of two or more countries and is related to the geographical dimensions of that place, like how a mountain range can be beneficial for the country within their borders for defence purposes or a waterway within one country's borders of 200 nautical miles can be an important source of income for some. To look after the geopolitical regions of their countries, every country has its own department of International Relations. Some examples of the geopolitical regions around the globe include Kashmir for India and Pakistan, Crimea for Russia and Ukraine, the Suez Canal for Gulf countries, and many other controversial places.

The political perspective is more interesting because it has some timeliness to it as some controversies keep on happening in those regions. If you are a reader, there are loads of articles and books on geopolitics for you to choose from. If you are a watcher, plenty of YouTube channels cover these types of topics, and if you are a listener, there are quite a few quality and regular podcasts for you to listen to. When you are sufficiently aware and informed about this subject, you can spend hours scrolling through countries' borders on Google Earth. 

That's how it is with geopolitics, once you get in, there is no way out. The fact is that there is a very small percentage of people aware of geopolitics, but you are never too old to read a school Atlas book and look at the maps and flags of countries around the globe for hours.