3/ Morocco 🇲🇦 is an ethnically and linguistically diverse state with a population of roughly 40 million.
The two official languages are Moroccan Arabic, known as Darija, and Berber, or Tamazight. French is taught universally and the language of commerce and culture. Morocco is a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.
The end result is very complicated street signs, with not just three different languages but three different scripts.
5/ Leaving linguistics behind, let's move on to geographic curiosities with the interesting case of Tangier.
Located in northwestern Morocco 🇲🇦 from 1925 to 1956 (except for a Spanish occupation from 1940-45) the city was an "international zone", co-governed/administered by France 🇫🇷, Spain 🇪🇸, Britain 🇬🇧, the US 🇺🇸from 1925 to 1956 and separate from the rest of Morocco.
Since independence in 1956 Morocco 🇲🇦 has claimed all of them.
One that deserves special mention is Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera. It was an island until 1930 when a major sandstorm created an 85m land connection - the world's shortest land border!
8/ We can now turn south to the dispute surrounding Western Sahara (ISO code "EH") - the world's largest disputed territory.
A 🇪🇸 Spanish-occupied territory until 1975, roughly 80% of the territory is now governed by the 🇲🇦 Moroccan government, whilst the remaining 20% is ruled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic 🇪🇭, a partially recognised state.
The dispute has been running for over 50 years, regularly flaring up into full blown war.
9/ As part of the conflict Morocco 🇲🇦 has built a series of massive sand walls ("berms") to prevent movement of fighters of the Polisario Front - the nationalist movement of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic 🇪🇭
10/ The conflict has largely simmered on without much international attention, though in 2020 it came back into focus when the United States 🇺🇸 recognised 🇲🇦 Morocco's annexation of what it refers to as its "Southern Provinces" as part of diplomatic normalisation agreement talks between Morocco and Israel 🇮🇱
11/ In 2030 Morocco 🇲🇦 will host the World Cup ⚽ together with Portugal 🇵🇹 and Spain 🇪🇸
This has given new energy to long dormant plans to build a high speed rail tunnel 🚄 under the Straits of Gibraltar which links the Atlantic 🌊 with the Mediterranean Sea 🌊
Devised by the late German architect Herman Sörgel, it proposed constructing several hydroelectric dams around the Strait of Gibraltar (but also the Bosporus Strait 🇹🇷 and between Sicily 🇮🇹and Tunisia 🇹🇳) to lower the sea level, generate energy, and create more land mass!
But don’t worry we will have a different #geoweirdness thread this afternoon. Also we’re gathering examples of weird time zones like Büsingen for a thread
As is our tradition let's head into the weekend with a #geoweirdness thread!
With less than three weeks to go until the next Geomob Barcelona (on 29 May 🗓️) it's fitting that we take a look at the geographic oddities of Catalonia.
3/ The treaty however created some border complexities.
We’re passionate about exclaves here at OpenCage, and Catalonia has one!
The treaty gave all villages north of the Pyrenees to France 🇫🇷
But this meant the Catalan "town" of Llíva was not part of the transfer.
Today this Catalan town is completely surrounded by the French “département” of Pyrénées-Orientales
5/ Nevertheless, in the interest of #geoweirdness we do need to mention Tabarnia.
This fictional region of Catalonia imagines an area that opposes independence. It is a neologism whose name combines two Catalan provinces, Tarragona and Barcelona. Opponents of independence often use it to highlight the political challenges of the independence movement.
6/ Many people know about the linguistic situation in Catalonia. It’s one of the purest linguistic examples of diglossia (two dialects or languages are used simultaneously by one community), but there are actually three officially recognised languages in Catalonia.
Catalan, Spanish and Aranese.
Aranese is a dialect of Occitan spoken in the Val d’Aran. It has protected official status, and it is the only area of Occitania where the language is protected.
8/ While Aranese is a tiny linguistic island, Catalan is much more widely spoken. It is the official language of Andorra 🇦🇩, has official status in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia, and in the city of Alghero on Sardinia, Italy 🇮🇹
10/ The capital of Catalonia is Barcelona, it is the second largest city in Spain.
Because of its grid system maps of Barcelona typically do NOT have north at the top! Instead maps are aligned so that the city's unique grid system is shown up-down/right-left.
11/ As if that is not confusing enough for the 12 million tourists who visit Barcelona each year (approximately ten times the city's population), residents of the La Salut neighbourhood successfully campaigned to have the 🚌 🚏 116 bus route removed from Google and Apple Maps to battle overcrowding caused by tourists trying to visit the world-famous Park Güell, designed by legendary architect Antoni Gaudi.
11/ London is sometimes still referred to as "The Big Smoke", a reference to the terrible pollution of the past, but these days the city is quite green
Indeed, it is classified as a forest.
50% of London is covered in green space, and an incredible 8 million trees are dotted across the capital.