Geoawesomeness: Top 30 maps and charts that explain the European Union

Tomorrow European Union celebrates the 60th birthday. On March 25, 1957, leaders of six countries – Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands – met in Rome and signed two treaties that established the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community, later transformed into the European Union.

Although Europe is experiencing growing turbulence related to migration crisis, terrorist attacks, and Brexit, among others, the EU project is still the best thing that happened to the continent after The World War II.  It allowed keeping peace and wealth for long years and we hope that it will stay that way for the next generations.

These maps and charts try to explain the sense of European Union.

see the maps

Geoawesomeness: The history of space exploration on a single space map

Humans have always dreamed about spaceflights but only in the second half of the 20th century we developed rockets that were powerful enough to overcome the force of gravity to reach orbital velocities that could open space to human exploration.

Everything started in 1957 when the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into space. The first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, went into orbit one year later in 1958. In 1961 the next milestone is space exploration has been achieved – Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth. His flight lasted 108 minutes, and Gagarin reached an altitude of about 202 miles (327 kilometers). We had to wait 8 years to 1969 for Astronaut Neil Armstrong to take “one giant leap for mankind” as he stepped onto the moon… The road to space exploration has been long and often bumpy but we have managed to achieve a lot.

The awesome poster called Chart of Cosmic Exploration documents every major space mission starting from the Luna 2 in 1959 to the DSCOVR in 2015. The map traces the trajectories of every orbiter, lander, rover, flyby, and impactor which ever left the Earth’s orbit and successfully completed its mission. Additionally each poster features an array of over 100 exploratory instruments with hand-illustrated renderings of each spacecraft. It’s awesome and beautiful!

see the map

Geoawesomeness: Map showing 500 years of Virgin Mary sightings

According to the text Virgin Mary barely speaks in the New Testament, but her image and legacy are found and celebrated around the world. The Cult of Mary is often linked to supernatural apparitions and miracle healings. There were over 2,000 sightings of the Virgin Mary claimed since A.D. 40. In the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church instituted a strict verification process of miracles. The process of investigation covers many aspects of each apparition, including the ‘authenticity’ and mental stability of the seer. To be worthy of belief and church support, apparitions must be deemed miraculous with a high degree of certainty and in line with church doctrine, and found to have had a positive impact. In fact only 16 of them have being sanctioned as true miracles.

The article is summarised with this cool infographic showing where the sightings have been reported, and how they’ve been classified by the church. The map is nicely designed and complemented by a timeline were each apparition has been marked.

see the graphs 

Geoawesomeness: Top 30 maps and charts that explain the European Union

Tomorrow European Union celebrates the 60th birthday. On March 25, 1957, leaders of six countries – Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands – met in Rome and signed two treaties that established the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community, later transformed into the European Union.

Although Europe is experiencing growing turbulence related to migration crisis, terrorist attacks, and Brexit, among others, the EU project is still the best thing that happened to the continent after The World War II.  It allowed keeping peace and wealth for long years and we hope that it will stay that way for the next generations.

These maps and charts try to explain the sense of European Union.

see the maps