Frank Jacobs

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Frank Jacobs

Journalist, writer, and blogger

strange maps

Frank Jacobs is Big Think's "Strange Maps" columnist.

From a young age, Frank was fascinated by maps and atlases, and the stories they contained. Finding his birthplace on the map in the endpapers of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings only increased his interest in the mystery and message of maps.

While pursuing a career in journalism, Frank started a blog called Strange Maps, as a repository for the weird and wonderful cartography he found hidden in books, posing as everyday objects and (of course) floating around the Internet.

"Each map tells a story, but the stories told by your standard atlas for school or reference are limited and literal: they show only the most practical side of the world, its geography and its political divisions. Strange Maps aims to collect and comment on maps that do everything but that - maps that show the world from a different angle".

A remit that wide allows for a steady, varied diet of maps: Frank has been writing about strange maps since 2006, published a book on the subject in 2009 and joined Big Think in 2010. Readers send in new material daily, and he keeps bumping in to cartography that is delightfully obscure, amazingly beautiful, shockingly partisan, and more.

Everything Videos Articles
Map highlighting an area in Europe, centered on the Netherlands and surrounding countries, with a red overlay labeled "PDF.
Strange Maps
The world’s largest PDF is bigger than the Universe
Common knowledge says the maximum size of a PDF is as big as 40% of Germany — but that’s a gross underestimate.
Frank Jacobs
Illustrated bell curve depicting IQ distribution with meme characters at various IQ levels: 70, 100, and 130, representing different intellectual stereotypes.
Strange Maps
The story behind the internet’s most viral (and misunderstood) political meme
A study on the “moral circles” of liberals and conservatives gets drafted into the culture wars — with mixed results.
Frank Jacobs & Stephen Johnson
Hexagonal map showing Europe, parts of Asia, and North Africa in varying shades of green and gray, with clusters of red and purple indicating specific regions.
Strange Maps
GPS jamming, a weapon in hot and hybrid wars, will soon be obsolete
"Gyroscope-on-a-chip" technology could soon enable us to navigate over long distances without GPS.
Frank Jacobs
A map showing Greenland in green and the United States in red with a statue connected by arrows, indicating movement or relation between the two locations.
Strange Maps
Counteroffer: What if Greenland bought the U.S.?
"It’s only natural for us to get America back," quipped Kim Kielsen, former prime minister of Greenland, in 2019.
Frank Jacobs
Map showing regions in Europe and North Africa. Two parts labeled 'a' and 'b' highlight areas with IQ deficit contours. Several crosses are marked on the map.
Strange Maps
Airborne lead pollution may have cost ancient Romans 3 IQ points
The Roman Empire at one point emitted roughly 3,600 tons of lead dust per year, causing “widespread cognitive decline.”
Frank Jacobs
An aerial view of a topographic map showing labeled features: Dam, Ballcourt, E-Group, and Houses, with varying elevation and terrain details.
Strange Maps
Major Mayan city discovered by scrolling past page 1 in Google search
Dubbed "Valeriana" by researchers, the city of 50,000 peaked around 800 AD before being swallowed by the jungle.
Frank Jacobs
Two maps show relative GDP per capita in Europe comparing 1900 and 2010. Darker shades indicate higher GDP relative to the EU average.
Strange Maps
Mapped: How Europe’s wealth has shifted since 1900
In 1900, the UK clearly was the richest country in Europe. That's no longer the case.
Frank Jacobs
Map showing migration routes across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans to the Indian Ocean, with sightings marked by colors and dates.
Strange Maps
Hungry or horny? Whale makes record swim halfway across planet
In 8,000-mile journey, a male humpback ditches Colombia for Tanzania — however, scientists don’t know why he made the trip.
Frank Jacobs
Strange Maps
Mapped: The strange link between obesity and corruption
In post-Soviet nations where ministers have a relatively high BMI, corruption tends to be high, too.
Frank Jacobs
Map displaying a rail route from Helsinki to Bruxelles, passing through cities like Tallinn, Riga, Warsaw, Berlin, and Hamburg. Northern and Central Europe countries are labeled.
Strange Maps
In the Baltics, 85 millimeters separate East from West
A new railway will switch the Baltic region's train gauge from Soviet to standard European — a megaproject with political, economic, and military dimensions.
Frank Jacobs
Aerial map view highlighting the Humongous Fungus in red within Malheur National Forest, with labeled sections "Genet D" and "Genet E." A scale bar indicates 2 kilometers.
Strange Maps
This fungus is so humongous that it can be mapped
A member of a species that kills trees, this mushroom is not the first to be called the Humongous Fungus — and perhaps not the last.
Frank Jacobs
World map highlighting the Brandt Line, dividing the Global North and Global South across continents.
Strange Maps
The Brandt Line gave us the Global North and South. It needs an update.
In 1980, Willy Brandt drew a line across the map that still influences how we think about the world.
Frank Jacobs
Map showing tidal ranges in northern Europe. Notable locations include Severn Estuary, Mont Saint Michel Bay, and Gibraltar. Depths indicated in meters and feet.
Strange Maps
Hell or high water: The wonders and dangers of Earth’s tidal ranges
Great tidal ranges are relatively rare on a global scale — and can be very deadly to the unsuspecting foreshore walker.
Frank Jacobs
Map of the Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order, showing key locations such as the World Headquarters and Library, with details on independence, language, religion, government, and currency.
Strange Maps
This Muslim microstate could soon be the world’s smallest country
The Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order would be just one quarter the size of Vatican City.
Frank Jacobs
A map depicting historical migration paths with two human figures positioned in different regions, illustrating ancient travel routes. The map shows various colored regions representing different terrains.
Strange Maps
The mountains where Neanderthals forever changed human genetics
Early modern humans interbred with Neanderthals — and scientists recently pinpointed a key site of contact.
Frank Jacobs
A map showing a proposed power transmission route from Darwin, Australia to Singapore, spanning 4,300 km, with sites for electricity supply, battery storage, and solar generation indicated along the route.
Strange Maps
World’s largest solar project will send Australian energy to Singapore
Australia's AAPowerLink boasts three global superlatives: largest solar farm, largest battery, and longest power cable.
Frank Jacobs
Map of Greece with different surname suffixes highlighted by region, such as -akis, -opoulos, -adis, and -oglou. Inset displays Cyprus with the suffix -ou.
Strange Maps
How Greek surnames reveal their geographic origins
The hidden story behind Greek surnames and how they trace family origins across the country — starting with the name of a would-be U.S. president.
Frank Jacobs
A world map displays global climate zones with colors representing varying levels of temperature and precipitation: green for temperate, yellow for arid, orange and red for hotter regions, and blue for wet zones.
Strange Maps
Why Earth’s oceans aren’t all equally salty
The salinity of the oceans is not just a matter of taste. Saltier water behaves differently, too.
Frank Jacobs
A historical timeline featuring notable figures from 1400 to present, including scientists, writers, politicians, and artists. The timeline is categorized by different historical eras.
Strange Maps
Mapping time: The surprising overlaps of history’s most influential minds
"The Big Map of Who Lived When" plots the lifespans of historical figures — from Eminem all the way back to Genghis Khan.
Frank Jacobs
This graph shows the highest recorded temperatures in five Middle Eastern cities from 2010 to 2020. The temperatures range from 49.9°C to 53°C. An inset map highlights the locations of the cities.
Strange Maps
Earth’s hottest cities are all in this little corner of the planet
You could call this rectangle covering parts of Iran, Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsula the “Oven Window.”
Frank Jacobs
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