Geography Now
Geography Now! | ||||||||||
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![]() The Geography Now! logo on YouTube | ||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||
Nationality | American | |||||||||
Website | www | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channels | ||||||||||
Created by | Paul Barbato | |||||||||
Years active | 2014–present | |||||||||
Genre | Education | |||||||||
Subscribers | 3.36 million | |||||||||
Total views | 462.4 million | |||||||||
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Last updated: August 23, 2024 |
Geography Now (also stylized as Geography Now!) is an American educational YouTube channel and web series created and hosted by Paul Barbato, profiling UN recognized countries in the world in alphabetical order as well as covering other topics regarding physical or political geography. The channel was started in August 2014 and has gained over 3.36 million subscribers.
Team
[edit]Main hosts, co-hosts, and crews
[edit]- Paul Barbato (born in Minnesota), sometimes nicknamed as Barby or Barbs – creator and host. He started Geography Now! because he felt there were no channels with the specific goal of profiling every country, and thus decided to create one himself. He has stressed the importance of geography education and criticized the lack of it in American curricula.[1]
- Keith Everett – music segment
- Hannah Bamberg, also known as "Random Hannah" – culture segment.
- Noah Gildermaster – food segment
- Kaleb Seaton, formerly known as "Gary Harlow" (a “knockoff Steve Irwin”) – wildlife segment
- Arthur "Art" Napiontek – sports segment
- Bill Rahko – theme music composer
- Vincent Kierkels – graphics designer/ animator
- Peadar Donnelly – graphics designer/animator
- Jared Stevenson – graphics designer/ animator
- Jason King – graphics designer (formerly)
- Ken O’Donnell – animator (formerly)
If the specified co-host doesn't show up for their segment, then it will either be covered by Paul or filled in by another crew member of Geography Now!. Whenever possible, the channel will also feature guest contributors from the country being profiled.
Channel
[edit]Geography Now!
[edit]The channel series started on October 15, 2014, with the country of Afghanistan and will conclude with the country of Zimbabwe in October 2024. The member states of the United Nations are covered in alphabetical order with few exceptions, such as when the country formerly named Swaziland changed its name to Eswatini after E had already been passed,[2] or how the North Macedonia episode was released under F because, at the time, the UN listed its name as "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and in order to prevent controversy from Greek viewers who identify the name "Macedonia" as purely Greek. English names are also used, so an episode is titled "Ivory Coast" and not "Côte d'Ivoire". Barbato has said he ensures his videos keep a fairly fast pace while including visual graphics for accessibility.[1]
- Flag Dissection, about the meaning and symbolism behind the country's flag. After signing with Studio 71, this segment was moved to a separate video known as Flag/Fan Fridays, later changed to Flag/Fan Days at the Cuba episode. These were accompanied with opening of mails and packages sent by the fans. In current format, flag segments are separated into a separate shorts format video and a separate live stream for fan mail openings.
- Political Geography, giving a closer look at the country's borders, enclave and exclaves, territorial disputes and anomalies, administrative divisions, overseas territories, notable places found inside the country and more.
- Physical Geography, about the country's land makeup, demarcations, landscape, arable land, climate, biodiversity, and food.
- Demographics, about the country's population, plug type, driving side, people, diversity, traditions, culture, government, notable people, and a quick history of the country (if it wasn't covered already in a past segment).
- Friend Zone, an analysis on the country's positive or negative relationship with other countries.[3]
- Conclusion, wrapping up the entire episode into a 1-2 minute segment.
Over the course of the channel's history, the duration of the country episodes have steadily increased, with more topics and information about the countries being included in each episode. While the episodes for the first several countries usually only lasted 7-10 minutes, episodes toward the end of the series usually lasted around 30-40 minutes. As of August 13, 2024, Zambia is the newest episode and the second to last UN listed country episode. Viewers have also noticed a steady increase in production quality and animations included in the episodes. Barbato's home country, the United States of America, lasted 65 minutes, making it the longest episode by far.
Flag/Fan Days
[edit]Flag/Fan Days, previously known as Flag/Fan Friday are companion videos to the main episodes. A country's flag and coat of arms are explained in these videos. Barbato also sometimes uses this as an opportunity to discuss topics he did not get to in the original video, or correct and clarify details. After that he calls crew members and opens fan mail. There is a recurring animation for most episodes of Flag/Fan Days where the red stands for the "blood of those who fight for their freedom", which has since became a running gag if the red on the country's flag represents the blood of those who fought for the country in the past.
Following the release of the Venezuela episode, Paul Barbato has decided to turn the last 5 Flag/Fan Day videos into YouTube shorts due to the long time it took to research, film and produce the videos.
Paul Barbato Heritage
[edit]As part of an interesting filler week video uploaded in May of 2022, Paul Barbato took an DNA test using the MyHeritage website to determine where his heritage comes from, here are the results as followed from first mention to last:
25.2% Japanese and Korean
17.8% Chinese and Vietnamese
9.2% Central Asian
6.6% Italian
8.8% Irish, Scottish and Welsh
6.5% English (England)
11.0% Scandinavian
13.6% North African
1.3% Native American (USA)
Geography Now! episodes
[edit]The countries discussed in each episode follow the United Nations alphabetical list of members and go through them in the respective order.
Episodes
[edit]![]() | ||
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# | Country | Date published |
1 | ![]() |
October 15, 2014 |
2 | ![]() |
October 21, 2014 |
3 | ![]() |
October 30, 2014 |
4 | ![]() |
November 12, 2014 |
5 | ![]() |
November 26, 2014 |
6 | ![]() |
December 17, 2014 |
7 | ![]() |
January 5, 2015 |
8 | ![]() |
January 16, 2015 |
9 | ![]() |
January 24, 2015 |
10 | ![]() |
February 6, 2015 |
11 | ![]() |
February 26, 2015 |
12 | ![]() |
March 16, 2015 |
13 | ![]() |
April 10, 2015 |
14 | ![]() |
April 18, 2015 |
15 | ![]() |
April 25, 2015 |
16 | ![]() |
May 15, 2015 |
17 | ![]() |
May 20, 2015 |
18 | ![]() |
May 25, 2015 |
19 | ![]() |
May 31, 2015 |
20 | ![]() |
June 26, 2015 |
21 | ![]() |
June 30, 2015 |
22 | ![]() |
July 9, 2015 |
23 | ![]() |
July 18, 2015 |
24 | ![]() |
August 15, 2015 |
25 | ![]() |
August 29, 2015 |
26 | ![]() |
September 6, 2015 |
27 | ![]() |
September 15, 2015 |
28 | ![]() |
October 1, 2015 |
29 | ![]() |
October 10, 2015 |
30 | ![]() |
October 21, 2015 |
31 | ![]() |
November 10, 2015 |
32 | ![]() |
December 12, 2015 |
33 | ![]() |
December 21, 2015 |
34 | ![]() |
January 8, 2016 |
35 | ![]() |
January 17, 2016 |
36 | ![]() |
February 7, 2016 |
37 | ![]() |
February 27, 2016 |
38 | ![]() |
March 9, 2016 |
39 | ![]() |
March 29, 2016 |
40 | ![]() |
April 14, 2016 |
41 | ![]() |
May 7, 2016 |
42 | ![]() |
May 11, 2016 |
43 | ![]() |
May 18, 2016 |
44 | ![]() |
May 25, 2016 |
45 | ![]() |
June 1, 2016 |
46 | ![]() |
June 15, 2016 |
47 | ![]() |
June 22, 2016 |
48 | ![]() |
June 29, 2016 |
49 | ![]() |
July 6, 2016 |
50 | ![]() |
August 3, 2016 |
51 | ![]() |
August 10, 2016 |
52 | ![]() |
August 24, 2016 |
53 | ![]() |
August 31, 2016 |
54 | ![]() |
September 21, 2016 |
55 | ![]() |
September 28, 2016 |
56 | ![]() |
October 5, 2016 |
57 | ![]() |
October 12, 2016 |
58 | ![]() |
November 15, 2016 |
59 | ![]() |
November 23, 2016 |
60 | ![]() |
November 30, 2016 |
61 | ![]() |
December 7, 2016 |
62 | ![]() |
January 18, 2017 |
63 | ![]() |
January 25, 2017 |
64 | ![]() |
February 1, 2017 |
65 | ![]() |
February 8, 2017 |
66 | ![]() |
March 22, 2017 |
67 | ![]() |
March 29, 2017 |
68 | ![]() |
April 5, 2017 |
69 | ![]() |
April 12, 2017 |
70 | ![]() |
May 10, 2017 |
71 | ![]() |
May 17, 2017 |
72 | ![]() |
May 24, 2017 |
73 | ![]() |
May 31, 2017 |
74 | ![]() |
June 28, 2017 |
75 | ![]() |
July 5, 2017 |
76 | ![]() |
July 12, 2017 |
77 | ![]() |
July 19, 2017 |
78 | ![]() |
August 2, 2017 |
79 | ![]() |
August 9, 2017 |
80 | ![]() |
August 16, 2017 |
81 | ![]() |
August 30, 2017 |
82 | ![]() |
September 20, 2017 |
83 | ![]() |
September 27, 2017 |
84 | ![]() |
October 4, 2017 |
85 | ![]() |
October 11, 2017 |
86 | ![]() |
October 20, 2017 |
87 | ![]() |
November 1, 2017 |
88 | ![]() |
November 15, 2017 |
89 | ![]() |
November 22, 2017 |
90 | ![]() |
November 29, 2017 |
91 | ![]() |
December 13, 2017 |
92 | ![]() |
December 20, 2017 |
93 | ![]() |
January 17, 2018 |
94 | ![]() |
January 24, 2018 |
95 | ![]() |
January 31, 2018 |
96 | ![]() |
February 7, 2018 |
97 | ![]() |
February 28, 2018 |
98 | ![]() |
March 7, 2018 |
99 | ![]() |
March 14, 2018 |
100 | ![]() |
March 21, 2018 |
101 | ![]() |
March 28, 2018 |
102 | ![]() |
April 25, 2018 |
103 | ![]() |
May 2, 2018 |
104 | ![]() |
May 23, 2018 |
105 | ![]() |
May 30, 2018 |
106 | ![]() |
June 6, 2018 |
107 | ![]() |
June 27, 2018 |
108 | ![]() |
July 4, 2018 |
109 | ![]() |
July 11, 2018 |
110 | ![]() |
August 15, 2018 |
111 | ![]() |
August 22, 2018 |
112 | ![]() |
August 29, 2018 |
113 | ![]() |
September 5, 2018 |
114 | ![]() |
September 26, 2018 |
115 | ![]() |
October 10, 2018 |
116 | ![]() |
October 17, 2018 |
117 | ![]() |
November 7, 2018 |
118 | ![]() |
November 14, 2018 |
119 | ![]() |
December 5, 2018 |
120 | ![]() |
December 12, 2018 |
121 | ![]() |
December 19, 2018 |
122 | ![]() |
January 9, 2019 |
123 | ![]() |
January 16, 2019 |
124 | ![]() |
January 30, 2019 |
125 | ![]() |
February 6, 2019 |
126 | ![]() |
February 27, 2019 |
127 | ![]() |
April 3, 2019 |
128 | ![]() |
April 10, 2019 |
129 | ![]() |
April 24, 2019 |
130 | ![]() |
May 1, 2019 |
131 | ![]() |
May 22, 2019 |
132 | ![]() |
June 12, 2019 |
133 | ![]() |
June 19, 2019 |
134 | ![]() |
July 31, 2019 |
135 | ![]() |
August 7, 2019 |
136 | ![]() |
August 28, 2019 |
137 | ![]() |
September 4, 2019 |
138 | ![]() |
September 25, 2019 |
139 | ![]() |
October 2, 2019 |
140 | ![]() |
October 30, 2019 |
141 | ![]() |
November 6, 2019 |
142 | ![]() |
December 4, 2019 |
143 | ![]() |
December 11, 2019 |
144 | ![]() |
January 15, 2020 |
145 | ![]() |
January 29, 2020 |
146 | ![]() |
February 19, 2020 |
147 | ![]() |
March 11, 2020 |
148 | ![]() |
March 18, 2020 |
149 | ![]() |
April 15, 2020 |
150 | ![]() |
May 6, 2020 |
151 | ![]() |
May 18, 2020 |
152 | ![]() |
June 3, 2020 |
153 | ![]() |
July 1, 2020 |
154 | ![]() |
July 22, 2020 |
155 | ![]() |
August 12, 2020 |
156 | ![]() |
September 2, 2020 |
157 | ![]() |
September 23, 2020 |
158 | ![]() |
December 30, 2020 |
159 | ![]() |
January 6, 2021 |
160 | ![]() |
January 20, 2021 |
161 | ![]() |
February 24, 2021 |
162 | ![]() |
March 17, 2021 |
163 | ![]() |
April 21, 2021 |
164 | ![]() |
May 26, 2021 |
165 | ![]() |
June 23, 2021 |
166 | ![]() |
August 4, 2021 |
167 | ![]() |
September 1, 2021 |
168 | ![]() |
September 22, 2021 |
169 | ![]() |
October 28, 2021 |
170 | ![]() |
December 8, 2021 |
171 | ![]() |
January 19, 2022 |
172 | ![]() |
February 23, 2022 |
173 | ![]() |
March 27, 2022 |
174 | ![]() |
April 29, 2022 |
175 | ![]() |
June 9, 2022 |
176 | ![]() |
July 6, 2022 |
177 | ![]() |
August 4, 2022 |
178 | ![]() |
September 3, 2022 |
179 | ![]() |
October 19, 2022 |
180 | ![]() |
November 23, 2022 |
181 | ![]() |
January 18, 2023 |
182 | ![]() |
March 9, 2023 |
183 | ![]() |
March 30, 2023 |
184 | ![]() |
May 30, 2023 |
185 | ![]() |
July 4, 2023 |
186 | ![]() |
September 4, 2023 |
187 | ![]() |
October 31, 2023 |
188 | ![]() |
December 7, 2023 |
189 | ![]() |
February 6, 2024 |
190 | ![]() |
April 3, 2024 |
191 | ![]() |
June 19, 2024 |
192 | ![]() |
August 13, 2024 |
193 | ![]() |
October 2024[4] |
Other content
[edit]Filler week videos happen when the team is in the process of researching and creating scripts for the next few videos. Topics discussed include states or sub regions of countries, current or cultural events, physical geography, specific ethnic group of peoples and infrastructure innovations.
Geography Go is the channel's travel vlog series. Countries visited include Qatar, Finland, Estonia, Greenland, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Indonesia, Singapore and many more. Paul also later started posting YouTube Shorts on his channel about his travels to other countries like Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Croatia, the Central African Republic, Togo and many other countries.
A Geograbee is the geography equivalent of a spelling bee in which people are tested on geography. He has so far hosted them in Hargeisa in Somaliland, Somalia, and Alaska.[5]
For April Fools' Day, Geography Now! uploads videos profiling fictional countries made up by Barbato. These include:
- Bandiaterra (2015), a Danish-speaking island nation in the Indian Ocean.
- Limberwisk (2018), a Nordic country whose language consists entirely of whispers.
- Patch Amberdash / Datcsh (2019), a confederation of islands spread across three continents.
- Qitzikwaka (2020), a former Russian colony situated mostly underground in the Sahara.
- Sovonthak (2021), a country situated on eight shallow reefs with a legally-recognized and taxed bartering system.
- Volanca (2022), a country with no territory founded by UN interpreters with citizens' residences serving as legal lodging.
- Ululiona-Linulu (2023), a sovereign Native American country created as a buffer between Mexico and the United States after the Mexican–American War.
- Geolandia (2024), a federation comprising all previous April Fools' countries, which united in the "April Union". Citizenship is acquired by subscribing to Geography Now, and buying merch on the Geography Now website (including clothing, accessories, and a figurine of Barbato).
Reception
[edit]Geography Now! generally receives positive feedback from newspapers and magazines in the countries covered, such as Japan Today,[6] Télérama,[7] Dutch Metro,[8] RTL,[9] Nezavisne Novine,[10] Life in Norway,[11] Lovin Malta,[12] and Zoznam.[13] It also receives endorsements from educators and travel writers.[14][15] The channel has appeared on several lists of recommended educational YouTube channels,[16][17][18] including one by the Van Andel Institute.[19][20] The few criticisms are usually to do with tone and pronunciation, particularly in earlier episodes.[21]
The top 15 country episodes with the most views as of August 2024 are:
1. Germany (8.542 million)
2. Japan (7.337 million)
3. Indonesia (7.210 million)
4. Israel (6.278 million)
5. China (PRC) (6.184 million)
6. North Korea (DPRK) (6.149 million)
7. India (5.504 million)
8. Russia (5.061 million)
9. Denmark (4.900 million)
10. Philippines (4.500 million)
11. Italy (4.119 million)
12. Canada (3.983 million)
13. Netherlands (3.848 million)
14. Afghanistan (3.815 million)
15. Ireland (3.717 million)
Notes
[edit]- ^ As of January 2024, no country has formally recognized Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as de jure legitimate government of Afghanistan.
- ^ At the time known as the Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia
- ^ Out of the usual alphabetical order due to the country changing its English name from 'Swaziland' to 'Eswatini'
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Episode 19 - Geography Now!". The Lost Geographer (Podcast). Archived from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
- ^ Aronow, Sam (June 22, 2018). "Geography Now! Night Thread". The Avocado. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ^ "Educational YouTuber Covers the Philippines". DG Briones. 3 October 2019. Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
- ^ Community post by Geography Now on YouTube
- ^ Schirm, Cassie (March 3, 2018). "Youtube star hosts GeograBee at Gruening Middle School". KTVA. Archived from the original on October 19, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ^ Ruide, Koh (February 17, 2018). "Informative video condenses everything about Japan into 16 minutes of pure gold". Japan Today. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- ^ "La France vue de l'extérieur". Télérama (in French). December 9, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- ^ Visser, Jemel (February 27, 2019). "Geography Now lanceert uitlegvideo over Nederland". Metro (in Dutch). Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- ^ "Kako nas Amerikanci vide: pogledajte što sve znaju o nama". RTL (in Croatian). May 16, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- ^ "Kako stranci vide BiH: Icar konzerve, piramide i tri jezika". Nezavisne Novine (in Bosnian). July 10, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- ^ Nikel, David (May 23, 2019). "Geography Now Comes To Norway". Life in Norway. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- ^ Micallef, Chiara (19 August 2018). "WATCH: Malta Featured On Popular Youtube Series About Countries And Geography". Lovin Malta. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- ^ "Státisíce videní za pár dní: Toto video o Slovensku je absolútnym hitom!". Zoznam: Hashtag (in Slovak). 4 January 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
- ^ "YouTube Excellence #2: Geography Now". Tome of Trovius. March 27, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ^ "Geography Now Videos". Laddingford St Mary's C of E Primary School. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
- ^ Nicholas Pardini, Brian Peotter (September 15, 2018). "82. Geography Now with Paul Barbato". Nothing Exempt (Podcast). Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ^ Stoyanof, Tania (December 14, 2016). "Lights, Camera, Action….Geography Now!". Black Label. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ^ Lawton, Georgina (February 2, 2017). "7 YouTube Channels Everyone Should Follow, According To Reddit". Bustle. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- ^ "5 Useful (and Fun) YouTube Channels for Your Classroom". Van Andel Institute. 28 February 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
- ^ Lee, Joshua (January 12, 2018). "From maths and science to liberal studies, these are the 7 best YouTube channels that will improve your grades". YoungPost. South China Morning Post. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ^ "My thoughts about Geography Now". Medium. January 26, 2019. Retrieved June 12, 2019.