Kosovo Becomes an Olympic Nation

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Kosovo controversially claims independence from Serbia (Northern Kosovo is under partial pro-Serbian control). Map by Evan Centanni, based on these two blank maps by Nord-NordWest. License: CC BY-SA

By Evan Centanni

Next Stop: Rio 2016
Disputed country Kosovo has become the 205th member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), making it an official Olympic Nation and allowing it to field a team at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Its full acceptance came at an IOC meeting in Monaco on December 9, after being granted "provisional recognition" in October.

Kosovo's admission process has been ongoing for five years, and the self-proclaimed country was denied the chance to participate in the London Olympics of 2012. However, one Kosovan athlete attended the games with the team from Albania, a neighboring country with close cultural ties to Kosovo.

Disputed Status
Located in southeastern Europe, Kosovo controversially declared independence from Serbia in 2008, while under the control of UN peacekeepers. Since then, it has been recognized as independent by over half of the world's countries, including the US and most of the European Union. However, Russia, China and many other countries still consider it to be rightfully part of Serbia.

Ukraine War Rebel Control Map: December 2014 (Premium)

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Research by Djordje Djukic, with additional reporting by Evan Centanni

Control lines have begun to solidify in Ukraine's civil war, with government forces on one side and the fighters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Lugansk People's Republic, and Federation of Novorossiya on the other side. 

PolGeoNow presents our district-by-district map of control in eastern Ukraine, updated for December 2014, including a timeline of major events and changes to territorial control since our previous Ukraine map update in September.

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Map: Which Countries Recognize Palestine in 2014?

(Keep up with changes to Palestine's situation: view all Palestine updates.)

Countries recognizing the State of Palestine in green, with most recent addition highlighted. Palestine in magenta (circled). Click to enlarge. Map by Evan Centanni, modified from public domain graphic (source).

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Syria Civil War Map: December 2014 (Premium)

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Research by T.H., with additional reporting by Evan Centanni

Our popular map of territorial control in the Syrian Civil War has been updated for December 2014, showing changes to the situation since the previous Syria map report in October. 

The map and accompanying report show largely unreported advances by the Islamic State, as well as important gains for both the government and rebels.

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• Recent areas of fighting, including Kobani (Ayn al-Arab), Morek, Nawa, and many others
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Nigeria War Update: Map of Boko Haram Control (November 2014) (Premium)

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Reporting by T.H. and Evan Centanni

Despite short-lived claims of a ceasefire, Nigeria's northern insurgency has continued unabated since late September, when we published our free map of Boko Haram control in Nigeria.

This premium report and map update detail the many changes since then, which have seen Boko Haram's "Islamic Caliphate" grow to control an area the size of Belgium.

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Portuguese Community Admits New Member & Observer Countries (Map)

Map by Evan Centanni, starting from public domain blank map (license: CC BY-NC-SA).

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War in Iraq: Map of Control in October 2014 (#4) (Premium)

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Research by Djordje Djukic and Evan Centanni

PolGeoNow presents our latest update on territorial control in Iraq, which is still split three ways between the Baghdad government, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the Islamic State (ISIS). This report covers a number of important changes to territorial control since our last Iraq map update in August.

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Map Update: Kosovo Now Recognized by Every Country in Oceania (107/193 UN members)

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Countries recognizing the Republic of Kosovo in green, highlighting recent additions. Disputed recognitions in yellow. Kosovo in magenta. Map by Evan Centanni, modified from public domain graphic (source).

Map: "Eurasian Union" Gets New Member

The Eurasian Economic Union's four member countries, plus disputed territories that might be officially or unofficially included. Map by Evan Centanni, starting from this map by Keverich2. License: CC BY-SA

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Syria Civil War Map: October 2014 (#15) (Premium)

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Our territorial control map of the Syrian Civil War has been updated for October, showing changes to the situation since the previous Syria map report in September. The map and accompanying timeline show the Islamic State's advance against Kurdish-held Kobani, as well as other developments from the past few weeks.

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• Recent areas of fighting, including Kobani (Ayn al-Arab), Deir al-Adas, and others
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War in Nigeria: Map of Boko Haram Control (September 2014)

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Map by Evan Centanni. All rights reserved.

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Conflict tracking by T.H., with additional reporting by Evan Centanni

Boko Haram vs. Nigeria
Though it's waged a bloody war against the Nigerian government for many years, rebel group Boko Haram rarely could claim significant territorial control until recently. Though they did take over a number of remote areas in spring of last year (see our 2013 Boko Haram control map), the militants were soon driven back into hiding by the Nigerian military.

The insurgency never went away, with Boko Haram's bombings and other attacks, often on schools and other public places, increasing in number and lethality from 2013 into early 2014. (Also see our 2013 report for more background on Boko Haram).

Maps of How Scotland's Regions Really Voted

Good geographers know that maps can lie to you. Every map emphasizes some aspects of a place at the expense of others, giving it a lot of power to lead careless readers astray. Maps of Scotland's recent independence referendum are misleading us about the reality, even if not intentionally.

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Map by Evan Centanni, based on blank map by TUBS and NordNordWest (CC BY-SA)

By Evan Centanni

Misleading Maps
By now you've probably heard the results of Scotland's independence referendum: voters chose "no" by a solid margin of 55% to 45%. Check out our previous article to learn more about what would have happened if Scotland had voted "yes".

Maps like this one from the BBC and this one from Wikipedia have popped up since the results came out, showing how each of Scotland's council areas voted. Most of the country is in red for "no", with a few "yes" areas in green.

But if one area went 51% for "yes", and another 51% for "no", those two areas actually voted almost identically - yet contrasting red/green maps make us feel like they're polar opposites (not to mention that one-in-thirty readers has trouble seeing the difference between red and green).

How the Councils Really Voted
Whether each area's people voted just over or just under 50% in favor isn't actually that important. What matters is how far the balance was tipped in each region. This is not the U.S. presidential election, where the final vote is actually made by delegates obligated to go by the majority in each state. All the votes across Scotland were pooled together to determine the result, so which side of the 50-yard line each area came out on has no effect .

Scottish Independence Poll: What is Scotland, and What Will Happen if it Votes to Leave the UK?

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Map of Scotland by Eric Gaba (source). License: CC BY-SA

By Evan Centanni

Scotland's Independence Vote

On Thursday (September 18), residents of Scotland will vote in a referendum on whether to leave the United Kingdom (UK). But is Scotland a country already? What will happen if voters choose "yes" in the referendum? And what other changes would this bring to Scotland and the UK's political geography? Read on for the answers to these questions and more!

Crash Course: History of Scotland

Scotland is the name of the northern third of Great Britain, the main island of the UK, which is shared with England to the south and Wales to the southwest. It originated as the Kingdom of Alba, an independent Celtic country that was unified around the year 900.

It remained an independent kingdom throughout the Middle Ages, gradually absorbing Anglo-Saxon culture from the south until it came to be ruled by English-speaking monarchs, who called it "Scots" or "Scotland" after the Latin name for the Gaels, the predominant Celtic people of the region.

Syria Civil War Map: September 2014 (#14) (Premium)

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Our Syrian Civil War coverage continues with this updated situation map, showing changes to territorial control since our previous Syria map report in August. Government forces, the Islamic State (ISIS), and the allied rebels have all made territorial gains during the past weeks.

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• Recent areas of fighting including Tabqa Airbase, Halfaya, Quneitra Province and more
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Ukraine War Rebel Control Map: September 2014 (Premium)

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Russia is now being accused of directly invading eastern Ukraine, and opposition control in the region has seen major changes since our last Ukraine war map update.

This is detailed map and timeline of pro-Russian territorial control in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, home to the claimed Donetsk People's Republic, Lugansk People's Republic, and Federation of Novorossiya. Updated to the start of September 2014.

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Latvia Joins the Eurozone (map)

This article was originally published as "Map: Which Countries Use the Euro? (Plus: This Year's New Addition)". To see newer versions of the map, view all Eurozone articles on PolGeoNow.

The Eurozone, European Union, and other countries using the euro.
Map by Evan Centanni, from blank map by Ssolbergj. License: CC BY-SA

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Belarus's Quiet Flag Change

Sometimes geopolitical changes make headlines, but other times they slip quietly under the radar. Such is the case with the flag of Belarus, which was changed without fanfare (or explanation) by a government decree back in 2012. We don't want you to miss any changes to the world's list of countries and flags, so we now present a belated report on this little-known event.

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Flag of Belarus, 2012-present Flag of Belarus, 1995-2012 Flag of Belarus, 1991-1995

By Caleb Centanni

Belarus, a former Soviet state in Eastern Europe, made a slight change to its flag in early 2012. On Feb. 10 of that year, the State Committee for the Standardization of the Republic of Belarus announced a minor change to the ornamental pattern on the left margin of the flag.

The pattern originally occupied one-twelfth of the flag's total length, and was located inside a white margin making up one-ninth of the flag design. The ornamental pattern has now been extended to fill the entire one-ninth margin. The Belarusian government apparently provided no specific reason for the change.

Other than this minor adjustment, the current flag of Belarus has been in place since 1995, when it replaced the traditional white-red-white flag after a controversial referendum that critics denounced as unconstitutional.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko supported the adoption of the 1995 flag, which is very similar to the Soviet-era flag. State-owned media argued the traditional tricolor flag was unacceptable due to its use by Nazi collaborators in World War II.

Syria Civil War Map: August 2014 (#13)

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Premium subscribers have already seen our new Syria map format, which shows full areas of control for each major faction in the civil war. Now, we present this month's update free of charge for your convenience. 

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Territorial control in the Syrian Civil War as of August 2014. Map by Evan Centanni, starting from blank map by NordNordWest. License: CC BY-SA

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Threats from All Sides
Since our last Syria map update in early July, the lines of control in the civil war have not changed drastically. However, fighting on all fronts has resulted in numerous small but important changes to the situation, as the Assad government is now facing serious challenges from both the newly rebranded Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL) and a loose coalition of various other rebel groups (including both the Free Syrian Army and Al-Nusra).

Iraq Conflict Control Map: August 2014 (Premium)

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This is the latest update to our series of maps documenting territorial control in the current war in Iraq, with a number of updates since the previous edition in late June. 

It includes control by the Maliki goverment, Kurdish forces, and the Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS), and has been re-styled to fit seamlessly with our popular control maps of the Syrian Civil War.

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African Union Reinstates Egypt and Guinea-Bissau (Map)

The African Union as of July 2014. Map by Evan Centanni, from this blank map by Eric Gaba.
License: CC BY-SA

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