Geography blogging - 3/3/2008

Welcome to our second installment of Geography Blogging. Because of the "hot spot" status of headlines today with respect to Colombia and its neighbors, we are going to take a look at....


How well do you do at identifying the countries indicated by the red arrows above? If you want extra credit, of course, you are welcome to go for any and all other countries on this unlabeled map. There are more than you expect since there are so many island nations involved, but have fun!

This snippet of a map of South America labels today's countries with one exception: Panamá. It is the Central American country that connects to South America, so pretty easy to locate with that in mind.

Padre Mickey and the Lovely Mona hang their hats at La Iglesia Episcopal de San Cristobal in Parque Lefevre, Ciudad de Panamá, which is, being interpreted, in Panama City.

You may click any of these figures to see them enlarged (or right-click to see them in a new window).

I am not going to be doing mini-histories or mention colorful tidbits about these countries because I am running out of steam for today. But I will provide the Wikipedia links where you may read more for each nation.

The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church recently met in Province IX, specifically, in Ecuador. Caminante wrote about it in a few posts, of which this is one.

Here is a news flash that explains why I chose this region today:

Ecuador Breaks Ties With Colombia

5 hours ago
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador broke off diplomatic ties with Colombia on Monday following that country's strike against leftist rebels inside Ecuador, the Foreign Ministry said.
"The government of Ecuador has decided to break off diplomatic relations with the government of Colombia starting today," the statement said.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa earlier on Monday vowed to take "stronger measures" against Colombia following the strike on Saturday that killed a senior rebel leader and 16 other guerrillas on Ecuadorean soil.
Correa also denied allegations from a Colombian official that a computer seized where rebel leader Raul Reyes was killed Saturday suggested Correa is deepening relations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Colombia's largest rebel group.

Colombia connects with Central America at its border with Panamá and is also bordered by both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It has been troubled with the socioeconomic strife engendered by drugs and the struggles among drug lords and governments.


Venezuela is often on American minds because of the tensions between populist leader Hugo Chávez and the U. S. Government. I loved it when he spoke at the United Nations and commented that it still smelled of sulfur from Bush's visit the previous day.


Suriname is unusual among South African nations in that its official language is Dutch. It was formerly known as Netherlands Guiana or Dutch Guiana. I have friends who were born there and now live in Oakland.


French Guiana is an overseas department of France and what I show here is the regional flag. That national flag would, of course, be the tricolor of France. French is the official language and the euro is the unit of currency.


OK, without peeking above, can you label the countries now?


Very good! As all around.

Whatever your mode of connecting with the Ultimate, I don't need to mention that this area can use prayer or its equivalent, do I? I didn't think so.

Love to all. Off to bed for the BB.