While some countries look like arbitrary masses of land on the map, others look a lot more interesting. Here are the top 10 countries with the most beautiful shapes (in my opinion).
10. Benin
Benin is a West African country to the west of Nigeria. It is known as the ‘cradle of voodoo’ due to the fact that voodoo is practiced by the local Fon people, known to them as Vodun (‘spirits’). Kudos to you if you already knew that, since all I knew about Benin before writing this article is that it looks like a cool torch on the map.
9. The Gambia
The Gambia is a small and narrow West African country whose borders mirror the shape of the Gambia river in its midst (a higher resolution depiction than the one here would show this even better). It is almost entirely sandwiched by Senegal with the exception of its western coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.
8. Sri Lanka
While Benin resembles a torch, the island of Sri Lanka looks like a flame. Another interesting feature of Sri Lanka’s geography is that there is a limestone land bridge that still exists connecting it to India in the northeast. It is believed that the land bridge was passable by foot up to the 15th century when storms deepened the channels. Today, the land bridge is just an obstacle for ships trying to navigate the area.
7. Croatia
Is that a tornado? No, it’s Croatia, with the hurricane-like shape created by the alluring Dalmatian coast along the Adriatic sea and the rest of the mainland in the northeast.
6. Russia
The largest country in the world in terms of area also manages to have a pretty intriguing shape. To me, it looks like a bison or buffalo facing right, holding something in its mouth. There is a head, pair of legs and tail; so all you need in order to see the badass creature is a little bit of imagination. And if you’re wondering about the small isolated mass of land on the left, that is Kaliningrad: a Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania.
5. Greece
The shape of Greece is stunning — unique, recognizable and full of detail. Some of the most interesting features include the Peloponnese peninsula in the south, with its four ‘fingers’ of land reaching into the Aegean Sea from the east and south, as well as the Chalkidiki peninsula in the northwestern Aegean, also resembling a hand but with three small fingers (although these are referred to as ‘legs’ in the Greek language).
4. Chile
Chile is a long, relatively narrow strip of land between the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes to the east. You might be tempted to imagine that everybody in Chile lives somewhat near the beach due to its long, skinny shape. However, Chile’s extreme length eclipses the fact that it is not really that narrow in practice. The mean distance east to west is 177 km, which is quite significant.
3. Cyprus
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, after Sicily and Sardinia. The shape of Cyprus is widely known, Cyprus being the only fully-recognized state with its map on its flag. The distinctive shape of the island is also sometimes used as a ‘trademark’ to identify Cypriot products. The highlight of Cyprus’ geography is the long finger-like peninsula in the northeast known as Karpasia. At the very tip of the peninsula lies Cape Apostolos Andreas, the north-easternmost point of the island.
2. United Arab Emirates
Look at that. The shape almost seems deliberate. That is a kangaroo. The United Arab Emirates is comprised of the seven emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. The latter six are located in the kangaroo’s head, while Abu Dhabi, the largest, spans the kangaroo’s body.
1. Italy
There it is. The high heel boot with fur at the top. The boot-shaped peninsula of Italy extends into the central Mediterranean Sea and has the sexiest shape a plot of land could have. Noteworthy points on the map include Apulia (Puglia), which is the heel of the boot, San Marino (an enclaved microstate), which is the tiny gap, as well as the islands of Sardinia (west) and Sicily (south).
