Geography
Explore lands, maps, cultures, and global landscapes.
Some of the stories included
The Formation of the Grand CanyonHow the Grand Canyon formed: nearly two billion years of rock, a rising plateau and the Colorado River cutting down through it.
The Danakil DepressionIn Ethiopia's Danakil Depression, a continent is splitting apart, creating some of the harshest conditions on Earth.
Machu PicchuMachu Picchu, the Inca royal estate built for Emperor Pachacuti in the 1400s: how it was built, why it was abandoned, and who really lived there.
The Boxing Day TsunamiHow the December 2004 Sumatra earthquake set off the deadliest tsunami on record, what happened from Aceh to Thailand and Somalia, and the Indian Ocean warning system built afterwards.
Lost Cities of the AmazonLIDAR found over 6,000 ancient platforms hidden beneath Ecuador's rainforest canopy, revealing a 2,500-year-old urban network.
The Dust BowlIn the 1930s, drought and the over-ploughing of the Great Plains led to huge dust storms, Black Sunday, mass migration west and new federal soil conservation programmes.
The Race to the South PoleTwo rival teams led by Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott battle deadly cold to reach the South Pole between 1911 and 1912.
The Teotihuacan CollapseTeotihuacan, the great city of ancient Mexico, and the fire and slow decline that ended it, which many archaeologists link to internal revolt and a colder climate.
The Amazon RainforestThe world's largest rainforest makes its own rain, releasing 20 billion metric tons of water vapor into the atmosphere every single day.
The Darién Gap: The Break in the Pan-American HighwayThe Darién Gap, the roadless stretch of jungle between Panama and Colombia that is the only break in the Pan-American Highway, and why it has never been built through.
The San Francisco EarthquakeOn April 18, 1906, a 7.9 magnitude quake hit San Francisco, but it was the fire that followed that destroyed 80% of the city.
The Cassini Maps of FranceFour generations of one family measured France with triangles and produced the first accurate map of a whole country.
DoggerlandThe story of Doggerland, the land that once joined Britain to Europe, revealed by a harpoon found in a fisherman's net in 1931.
Mapping the Deep: The Quest to Understand the OceanFrom an ancient Greek's weighted rope to modern robots, this is the story of the quest to map the ocean floor, revealing a hidden world.
The Eruption of KrakatoaThe 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia: the loudest sound in recorded history, tsunamis that killed about 36,000 people, and ash that turned skies red around the world.
The Nazca LinesThe Nazca Lines of southern Peru: how the desert geoglyphs were made, the researchers who studied and protected them, the 2024 AI-assisted discovery of 303 new figures, and the threats they face.
Why the Dead Sea Is ShrinkingWhy the Dead Sea is falling by over a metre a year: the water taken from the Jordan River, the mineral industry, and what scientists expect to happen next.
The Mystery of Easter IslandHow the Rapa Nui carved nearly 900 moai and moved them by "walking" them upright, how they farmed a harsh island, and how Peruvian slave raids and smallpox nearly destroyed them in the 1860s.
Lake BaikalLake Baikal in Siberia, the world's oldest and deepest lake: its active rift, its unique wildlife, Buryat legend, the 1904 railway laid across its ice, and the neutrino telescope in its depths.
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