If you enjoy looking at a map and wondering what life is like in the places you’ve never heard of, here are ten names to look up. Some are island nations, others are territories with their own identities, and one is a mountain region whose recent history has reshaped life there.
We start with the freshwater pools of Vanuatu, cross the English Channel and the Irish Sea, and finish in the South Caucasus. How many of these places could you find on a map without searching for them?
8Tuvalu
North of Fiji lies Tuvalu, a Pacific nation made up of low coral islands and atolls. At Funafuti, the main settlement sits on a narrow strip of land between a lagoon and the open ocean.
That geography explains why exceptionally high tides matter so much here. On land that barely rises above sea level, seawater can reach roads and homes. A thin line on a world map is wide enough to hold an entire neighbourhood.
