Geography Now

Geography Now (also stylized as Geography Now!) is an American educational YouTube channel and web series created and hosted by Paul Barbato, profiling every country in the world in alphabetical order as well as covering other topics regarding physical or political geography. The channel was started in 2014 and has since gained over 2.8 million subscribers.

Geography Now
Paul Barbato in 2019
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Websitehttps://www.geographynow.com/
YouTube information
Channel
Created byPaul Barbato
Years active2014–present
GenreEducation
Subscribers2.85 million[1]
(December 2021)
Total views350 million[1]
(December 2021)
100,000 subscribers 2016
1,000,000 subscribers 2018

Team

  • Paul Barbato (born on 7 June 1987 in Minnesota), also known 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, thus decided to start one himself. He has stressed the importance of geography education and criticized the lack of it in American curriculums.[2]
  • Keith Everett – music segment
  • Hannah Bamberg, also known as "Random Hannah" – culture segment. She has made Geography Now’s first spinoff channel called "Filmography Now" which has since reached more than 16,000 subscribers.
  • Noah Gildermaster – food segment
  • Kaleb Seaton, also known as "Gary Harlow" – wildlife segment
  • Arthur "Art" Napiontek – sports segment
  • Bill Rahko – theme music composer
  • Peadar Donnelly – graphics designer/animator
  • Jared Stevenson – animator
  • Jason King – graphics designer (formerly)
  • Ken O’Donnell – animator (formerly)

Channel

Geography Now!

The channel series started on October 15th, 2014 with Afghanistan. The Member states of the United Nations are covered in alphabetical order with few exceptions, such as when Swaziland changed its name to Eswatini after E had already been passed.[3] However, the Republic of Macedonia, like in the UN, is titled "Macedonia (FYROM)" for "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" in order to prevent controversy from Greek viewers who identify the name "Macedonia" as purely Greek. As such, the Macedonia episode is on the "F" category. English names are also used, so an episode is "Ivory Coast" and not "Cote d'Ivoire." Barbato has said he ensures his videos keep a fairly fast pace while including visual graphics for accessibility.[2]

  • Flag Dissection, about the meaning and symbolism behind the country's flag. After signing with Studio 71, this segment was moved to Flag/Fan Fridays.
  • Political Geography, giving a closer look at the country's borders, enclave and exclaves, territorial disputes and anomalies, administrative divisions, over seas territories, notable places and more.
  • Physical Geography, about the country's land makeup, demarcations, landscape, arable land , climate, biodiversity, and food.
  • Demographics, about the country's population, people, diversity, traditions, culture, government, notable people, and history.
  • Friend Zone, an analysis on the country's relationship with other countries.[4]

Flag/Fan Fridays

Flag/Fan Fridays 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 every episode of Flag/Fan Fridays where the red stands for the "BLOOD OF THOSE WHO FIGHT FOR THEIR FREEDOM", which has since became a running gag.

Geography Now! Episodes

The countries discussed in each episode follow the United Nations alphabetical list of members and go through them in the respective order.

Episodes

# Country Date Published
1 Afghanistan October 15, 2014
2 Albania October 21, 2014
3 Algeria October 30, 2014
4 Andorra November 12, 2014
5 Angola November 26, 2014
6 Antigua and Barbuda December 17, 2014)
7 Argentina January 5, 2015
8 Armenia January 16, 2015
9 Australia January 24, 2015
10 Austria February 6, 2015
11 Azerbaijan February 26, 2015
12 The Bahamas March 16, 2015
13 Bahrain April 10, 2015
14 Bangladesh April 18, 2015
15 Barbados April 25, 2015
16 Belarus May 15, 2015
17 Belgium May 20, 2015
18 Belize May 25, 2015
19 Benin May 31, 2015
20 Bhutan June 26, 2015
21 Bolivia June 30, 2015
22 Bosnia and Herzegovina July 9, 2015
23 Botswana July 18, 2015
24 Brazil August 15, 2015
25 Brunei August 29, 2015
26 Bulgaria September 6, 2015
27 Burkina Faso September 15, 2015
28 Burundi October 1, 2015
29 Cambodia October 10, 2015
30 Cameroon October 21, 2015
31 Canada November 10, 2015
32 Cape Verde December 12, 2015
33 Central African Republic December 21, 2015
34 Chad January 8, 2016
35 Chile January 17, 2016
36 China February 7, 2016
37 Colombia February 27, 2016
38 Comoros March 9, 2016
39 Democratic Republic of the Congo March 29, 2016
40 Republic of the Congo April 14, 2016
41 Costa Rica May 7, 2016
42 Croatia May 11, 2016
43 Cuba May 18, 2016
44 Cyprus May 25, 2016
45 Czechia June 1, 2016
46 Denmark June 15, 2016
47 Djibouti June 22, 2016
48 Dominica June 29, 2016
49 Dominican Republic July 6, 2016
50 East Timor August 3, 2016
51 Ecuador August 10, 2016
52 Egypt August 24, 2016
53 El Salvador August 31, 2016
54 Equatorial Guinea September 21, 2016
55 Eritrea September 28, 2016
56 Estonia October 5, 2016
57 Ethiopia October 12, 2016
58 Fiji November 15, 2016
59 Finland November 23, 2016
60 North Macedonia November 30, 2016
61 France December 7, 2016
62 Gabon January 18, 2017
63 The Gambia January 25, 2017
64 Georgia February 1, 2017
65 Germany February 8, 2017
66 Ghana March 22, 2017
67 Greece March 29, 2017
68 Grenada April 5, 2017
69 Guatemala April 12, 2017
70 Guinea May 10, 2017
71 Guinea-Bissau May 17, 2017
72 Guyana May 24, 2017
73 Haiti May 31, 2017
74 Honduras June 28, 2017
75 Hungary July 5, 2017
76 Iceland July 12, 2017
77 India July 19, 2017
78 Indonesia August 2, 2017
79 Iran August 9, 2017
80 Iraq August 16, 2017
81 Ireland August 30, 2017
82 Israel September 20, 2017
83 Italy September 27, 2017
84 Ivory Coast October 4, 2017
85 Jamaica October 11, 2017
86 Japan October 20, 2017
87 Jordan November 1, 2017
88 Kazakhstan November 15, 2017
89 Kenya November 22, 2017
90 Kiribati November 29, 2017
91 North Korea December 13, 2017
92 South Korea December 20, 2017
93 Kuwait January 17, 2018
94 Kyrgyzstan January 24, 2018
95 Laos January 31, 2018
96 Latvia February 7, 2018
97 Lebanon February 28, 2018
98 Lesotho March 7, 2018
99 Liberia March 14, 2018
100 Libya March 21, 2018
101 Liechtenstein March 28, 2018
102 Lithuania April 25, 2018
103 Luxembourg May 2, 2018
104 Madagascar May 23, 2018
105 Malawi May 30, 2018
106 Malaysia June 6, 2018
107 Eswatini June 27, 2018
108 Maldives July 4, 2018
109 Mali July 11, 2018
110 Malta August 15, 2018
111 Marshall Islands August 22, 2018
112 Mauritania August 29, 2018
113 Mauritius September 5, 2018
114 Mexico September 26, 2018
115 Federated States of Micronesia October 10, 2018
116 Moldova October 17, 2018
117 Monaco November 7, 2018
118 Mongolia November 14, 2018
119 Montenegro December 5, 2018
120 Morocco December 12, 2018
121 Mozambique December 19, 2018
122 Myanmar January 9, 2019
123 Namibia January 16, 2019
124 Nauru January 30, 2019
125 Nepal February 6, 2019
126 Netherlands February 27, 2019
127 New Zealand April 3, 2019
128 Nicaragua April 10, 2019
129 Niger April 24, 2019
130 Nigeria May 1, 2019
131 Norway May 22, 2019
132 Oman June 12, 2019
133 Pakistan June 19, 2019
134 Palau July 31, 2019
135 Panama August 7, 2019
136 Papua New Guinea August 28, 2019
137 Paraguay September 4, 2019
138 Peru September 25, 2019
139 Philippines October 2, 2019
140 Poland October 30, 2019
141 Portugal November 6, 2019
142 Qatar December 4, 2019
143 Romania December 11, 2019
144 Russia January 15, 2020
145 Rwanda January 29, 2020
146 Saint Kitts and Nevis February 19, 2020
147 Saint Lucia March 11, 2020
148 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines March 18, 2020
149 Samoa April 15, 2020
150 San Marino May 6, 2020
151 São Tomé and Príncipe May 18, 2020
152 Saudi Arabia June 3, 2020
153 Senegal July 1, 2020
154 Serbia July 22, 2020
155 Seychelles August 12, 2020
156 Sierra Leone September 2, 2020
157 Singapore September 23, 2020
158 Slovakia December 30, 2020
159 Slovenia January 6, 2021
160 Solomon Islands January 20, 2021
161 Somalia February 24, 2021
162 South Africa March 17, 2021
163 Spain April 21, 2021
164 Sri Lanka May 26, 2021
165 Sudan June 23, 2021
166 South Sudan August 4, 2021
167 Suriname September 1, 2021
168 Sweden September 22, 2021
169 Switzerland October 28, 2021
170 Syria December 8, 2021

Other content

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, and infrastructure innovations.

Geography Go is the channel's travel vlog series. Countries visited include Finland, Estonia, Greenland, Iceland, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Geography Come is a series in which international team members visit.[5] Paul also later started posting YouTube Shorts on his channel about his travels to other countries like Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Croatia and the Central African Republic.

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.[6]

For April Fools' Day, Geography Now uploads video profiling fictional countries they made up:

  • 2015: Bandiaterra
  • 2018: Limberwisk
  • 2019: Patch Amberdash
  • 2020: Qitzikwaka
  • 2021: Sovonthak

Exceptions were made in 2016 (Geometry Now) and 2017 (PGC Brey - What are the "kind of" countries?). Fake country profiles have since become an April Fools' tradition on the channel.

Reception

Geography Now generally receives positive feedback from newspapers and magazines in the countries covered, such as Japan Today,[7] Télérama,[8] Dutch Metro,[9] RTL,[10] Nezavisne Novine,[11] Life in Norway,[12] Lovin Malta,[13] and Zoznam.[14] It also receives endorsements from educators and travel writers.[15][16] The channel has appeared on several lists of recommended educational YouTube channels,[17][5][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 episodes with the most views as of December 2021 are Germany at over 7 million views, followed by Indonesia, Japan, China and North Korea.

References

  1. "About Geography Now". YouTube.
  2. "Episode 19 - Geography Now!". The Lost Geographer (Podcast). Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  3. Aronow, Sam (June 22, 2018). "Geography Now! Night Thread". The Avocado. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  4. "Educational YouTuber Covers the Philippines". DG Briones. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  5. Stoyanof, Tania (December 14, 2016). "Lights, Camera, Action….Geography Now!". Black Label. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  6. Schirm, Cassie (March 3, 2018). "Youtube star hosts GeograBee at Gruening Middle School". KTVA. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  7. Ruide, Koh (February 17, 2018). "Informative video condenses everything about Japan into 16 minutes of pure gold". Japan Today. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  8. "La France vue de l'extérieur". Télérama (in French). December 9, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  9. Visser, Jemel (February 27, 2019). "Geography Now lanceert uitlegvideo over Nederland". Metro (in Dutch). Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  10. "Kako nas Amerikanci vide: pogledajte što sve znaju o nama". RTL (in Croatian). May 16, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  11. "Kako stranci vide BiH: Icar konzerve, piramide i tri jezika". Nezavisne Novine (in Bosnian). July 10, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  12. Nikel, David (May 23, 2019). "Geography Now Comes To Norway". Life in Norway. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  13. Micallef, Chiara. "WATCH: Malta Featured On Popular Youtube Series About Countries And Geography". Lovin Malta. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  14. "Státisíce videní za pár dní: Toto video o Slovensku je absolútnym hitom!". Zoznam: Hashtag (in Slovak). 4 January 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  15. "YouTube Excellence #2: Geography Now". Tome of Trovius. March 27, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  16. "Geography Now Videos". Laddingford St Mary's C of E Primary School. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  17. Nicholas Pardini, Brian Peotter (September 15, 2018). "82. Geography Now with Paul Barbato". Nothing Exempt (Podcast). Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  18. Lawton, Georgina (February 2, 2017). "7 YouTube Channels Everyone Should Follow, According To Reddit". Bustle. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  19. "5 Useful (and Fun) YouTube Channels for Your Classroom". Van Andel Institute. 28 February 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  20. 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.
  21. "My thoughts about Geography Now". Medium. January 26, 2019. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
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