• Question: Who chose the colours of all the countries on the globe?

    Asked by crunchiejelly to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hi CrunchieJelly. I didn’t know the answer to this, but I was interested, so I’ve looked it up. Most early maps didn’t show countries, they showed rivers and land, so they chose colours to match rivers, forests, and mountains.

      Political maps and globes – the ones that show countries in different colours – use colors chosen by the company that makes the globe. There aren’t any standard rules.

      Did you know that you can color a globe or map using just four colors, and no two countries with the same color will touch each other? You can’t manage it with three colors though. Try it out!

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Crunchie… Drew’s obv knows his stuff.

    • Photo: Kimberley Bryon

      Kimberley Bryon answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      I didn’t know the answer to this either. It can’t be standard though as I have seen globes made up of semi-precious stones.

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      I think, as Drew said, that its the map manufacturers…so depending on what atlas/glbe you buy they’ll be a little different. mmmmmh…I love maps.

      🙂

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Hi crunchie. I am super glad you asked this question – now I have learned the answer from Drew too! Cool.

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