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Geography Now

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Geography Now!
The Geography Now! logo on YouTube
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Websitewww.geographynow.com
YouTube information
Channels
Created byPaul Barbato
Years active2014–present
GenreEducation
Subscribers3.4 million
Total views474.65 million
100,000 subscribers2016
1,000,000 subscribers2018
Last updated: December 15, 2024

Geography Now (also stylized as Geography Now!) is an American educational YouTube channel and web series created and hosted by Paul Barbato. It profiles UN-recognized countries in the world in alphabetical order and covers additional topics related to physical and political geography. The channel was started in August 2014 and has gained over 3.38 million subscribers.

Team

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Main hosts, co-hosts, and crews

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  • Paul Barbato (born 1987 in Minnesota), sometimes nicknamed Barby or Barbs – creator and host. He started Geography Now! because he felt there were no channels specifically aimed at profiling every country, prompting him to create one himself. He has emphasized the importance of geography education and criticized its scarcity in American curricula.[1] As of October 2024, at the conclusion of the series, he has visited 99 countries.[2]
  • 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 – Graphic designer/animator
  • Peadar Donnelly – Graphic designer/animator
  • Jared Stevenson – Graphic designer/animator
  • Jason King – Graphic designer (formerly)
  • Ken O'Donnell – Animator (formerly)

If the specified co-host does not appear for their segment, it will either be covered by Paul or filled in by another crew member of Geography Now!. Whenever possible, the channel also features guest contributors from the country being profiled.

Channel

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Geography Now!

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The channel series began on October 15, 2014, with the country of Afghanistan and concluded on October 15, 2024, with the country of Zimbabwe. The member states of the United Nations were covered in alphabetical order, with a few exceptions, such as when the country formerly named Swaziland changed its name to Eswatini after the letter E had already been passed.[3] Another exception was the North Macedonia episode, which was released under F, because at the time, the UN listed its name as "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" to avoid controversy with Greek viewers, who consider the name "Macedonia" to be exclusively Greek. English names were also used for country titles; for example, the episode is titled "Ivory Coast" rather than "Côte d'Ivoire." Barbato has stated that he maintains a fast pace in his videos while incorporating visual graphics to enhance accessibility.[1]

  • The world map
    This is what Geography Now covered until the end[4]
    The Flag Dissection segment examined the meaning and symbolism behind each 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 starting with the Cuba episode, though it was brought back in the Zimbabwe episode. These segments included the opening of mail and packages sent by fans. In the current format, flag segments are separated into short-format videos, with fan mail openings held in separate live streams.
  • Political Geography provided a closer look at each country's borders, enclave and exclaves, territorial disputes and anomalies, administrative divisions, overseas territories, notable locations, and more.
  • Physical Geography explored each country's land makeup, demarcations, landscape, arable land, climate, biodiversity, and food.
  • Demographics covered each country’s population, plug type, driving side, people, diversity, traditions, culture, government, notable individuals, and a brief history (if not already discussed in a previous segment).
  • Friend Zone analyzed the country's positive or negative relationships with other countries.[5]
  • Conclusion wrapped up each episode into a 1-2 minute segment.

Over the course of the channel's history, the duration of the country episodes steadily increased, with more topics and information about each country included in each episode. While early episodes typically lasted 7-10 minutes, later episodes usually ran 30-40 minutes. As of October 15, 2024, the Zimbabwe episode is the newest and final episode covering a UN-listed country. Viewers have also noticed a steady increase in production quality and animations in the episodes. The episode on Barbato's home country, the United States of America, lasted 65 minutes, making it the longest episode by far.

A "new chapter" was announced at the end of the Zimbabwe episode.[6]

Flag/Fan Days

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Flag/Fan Days, previously known as Flag/Fan Friday, were companion videos to the main episodes. In these videos, a country's flag and coat of arms are explained. Barbato also sometimes uses this opportunity to discuss topics he did not cover in the original video or to correct and clarify details. Afterward, he calls crew members and opens fan mail.

There is a recurring animation in most episodes of Flag/Fan Days where the red in a country's flag symbolizes the "blood of those who fight for their freedom", which has since become a running gag whenever the red on a country's flag is said to represent the blood of those who fought for the country in the past.

Following the release of the Venezuela–Zambia episodes, Paul Barbato decided to turn four Flag/Fan Day videos into YouTube Shorts due to the long time it took to research, film, and produce the videos.

Geography Now! episodes

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

Episodes

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# 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  Czech Republic 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
171  Tajikistan January 19, 2022
172  Tanzania February 23, 2022
173  Thailand March 27, 2022
174  Togo April 29, 2022
175  Tonga June 9, 2022
176  Trinidad and Tobago July 6, 2022
177  Tunisia August 4, 2022
178  Turkey September 3, 2022
179  Turkmenistan October 19, 2022
180  Tuvalu November 23, 2022
181  Uganda January 18, 2023
182  Ukraine March 9, 2023
183  United Arab Emirates March 30, 2023
184  United Kingdom May 30, 2023
185  United States of America July 4, 2023
186  Uruguay September 4, 2023
187  Uzbekistan October 31, 2023
188  Vanuatu December 7, 2023
189  Venezuela February 6, 2024
190  Vietnam April 3, 2024
191  Yemen June 19, 2024
192  Zambia August 13, 2024
193  Zimbabwe October 15, 2024

Other content

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Filler week videos occurred when the team was in the process of researching and creating scripts for upcoming episodes. Topics discussed in these videos included states or subregions of countries, current or cultural events, physical geography, specific ethnic groups, 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 others.

A Geograbee is the geography equivalent of a spelling bee, where participants are tested on geography. So far, Barbato has hosted these events in Hargeisa in Somaliland, Somalia, and Alaska.[7] Other educational content is also uploaded.[8]

For April Fools' Day, Geography Now! uploaded videos profiling fictional countries created by Barbato (with the exception of the 2016 and 2017 videos). These included:

  • 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 purchasing merchandise on the Geography Now website (including clothing, accessories, and a figurine of Barbato).

Reception

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Geography Now! generally receives positive feedback from newspapers and magazines in the countries covered, such as Japan Today,[9] Télérama,[10] Dutch Metro,[11] RTL,[12] Nezavisne Novine,[13] Life in Norway,[14] Lovin Malta,[15] and Zoznam.[16] It has also received endorsements from educators and travel writers.[17][18] The channel has appeared on several lists of recommended educational YouTube channels,[19][20][21] including one by the Van Andel Institute.[22][23] A few criticisms typically relate to tone and pronunciation, particularly in earlier episodes.[24]

The top 10 country episodes with the most views as of December 2024 are:

1. Germany (8.59 million)

2. Japan (7.43 million)

3. Indonesia (7.24 million)

4. Israel (6.33 million)

5. China (PRC) (6.24 million)

6. North Korea (DPRK) (6.20 million)

7. India (5.54 million)

8. Russia (5.11 million)

9. Denmark (4.92 million)

10. Philippines (4.54 million)

References

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  1. ^ a b "Episode 19 - Geography Now!". The Lost Geographer (Podcast). Archived from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  2. ^ Barbato, Paul (October 15, 2024). "I Traveled to 99 Countries and Learned We All Seek the Same Things". Newsweek. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  3. ^ Aronow, Sam (June 22, 2018). "Geography Now! Night Thread". The Avocado. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  4. ^ ZIMBABWE! (THE LAST ONE!)
  5. ^ "Educational YouTuber Covers the Philippines". DG Briones. 3 October 2019. Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  6. ^ Glaze, Virginia (October 15, 2024). "Meet the YouTuber who spent 10 years profiling every country on Earth". Dexerto. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ "GEOGRAPHY NOW: BARBS' 10-YEAR GLOBAL JOURNEY – EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW". The Travel Pocket Guide. October 15, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  9. ^ Ruide, Koh (February 17, 2018). "Informative video condenses everything about Japan into 16 minutes of pure gold". Japan Today. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  10. ^ "La France vue de l'extérieur". Télérama (in French). December 9, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  11. ^ Visser, Jemel (February 27, 2019). "Geography Now lanceert uitlegvideo over Nederland". Metro (in Dutch). Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  12. ^ "Kako nas Amerikanci vide: pogledajte što sve znaju o nama". RTL (in Croatian). May 16, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  13. ^ "Kako stranci vide BiH: Icar konzerve, piramide i tri jezika". Nezavisne Novine (in Bosnian). July 10, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  14. ^ Nikel, David (May 23, 2019). "Geography Now Comes To Norway". Life in Norway. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  15. ^ Micallef, Chiara (19 August 2018). "WATCH: Malta Featured On Popular Youtube Series About Countries And Geography". Lovin Malta. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  16. ^ "Státisíce videní za pár dní: Toto video o Slovensku je absolútnym hitom!". Zoznam: Hashtag (in Slovak). 4 January 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  17. ^ "YouTube Excellence #2: Geography Now". Tome of Trovius. March 27, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  18. ^ "Geography Now Videos". Laddingford St Mary's C of E Primary School. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  19. ^ Nicholas Pardini, Brian Peotter (September 15, 2018). "82. Geography Now with Paul Barbato". Nothing Exempt (Podcast). Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  20. ^ Stoyanof, Tania (December 14, 2016). "Lights, Camera, Action….Geography Now!". Black Label. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  21. ^ Lawton, Georgina (February 2, 2017). "7 YouTube Channels Everyone Should Follow, According To Reddit". Bustle. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  22. ^ "5 Useful (and Fun) YouTube Channels for Your Classroom". Van Andel Institute. 28 February 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ "My thoughts about Geography Now". Medium. January 26, 2019. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
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