This clever map reveals the questions Americans Google about European nations
‘Why does Ireland have no snakes?’
Jakub Marian is a Czech cartographer, whose maps give a novel take on the world from above.
One of Jakub’s latest creations looks at Europe, separating out each country not by their name but by the questions Americans are searching about it online.
Using the US version of Google, Jakub posed “Why does (country name)” into the search engine and autocomplete told him the most searched such question – here are the results.
Perhaps predictably, the UK’s entry reads “want to leave the EU”, while Ireland’s references the legend of St Patrick driving snakes from the nation and into the sea: “Why does Ireland have no snakes?”
Other entertaining entries include Spain’s “have a lisp”, which refers to Spaniard’s use of the “th” sound for the letter z and c – a trait which, according to an urban legend, derives from a Spanish king called Ferdinand who spoke with a lisp.
There is also France’s “speak French” and “make you sleepy” for Turkey – though Jakub notes this probably refers to the bird rather than the country.
Many countries, such as Portugal and Belgium, are questioned about why they exist, and people also want to know why Finland and Romania “have fast internet” – while country’s crime rates, death rates and the colours they wear are also common queries.
Jakub released a similar map earlier this year, instead asking “why did” instead of “why does”.
Once again in this map the UK’s focus is leaving the EU, while Ireland queries about why it split.
There are others that are intriguingly specific such as Sweden’s “ban Christmas lights”, referring to a fake report that the country banned them to avoid offending Muslims – reportedly the actual ban was on lights being put on poles for safety reasons.
Meanwhile Norway’s “knight a penguin” refers to the similarly bizarre story of Nils Olav I, II and II, three penguins adopted and honoured by the Norwegian military.
