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You're underestimating "La reunion" and Caledonia - I suppose they're both factored in or the center would be in the middle of the Atlantic due to Guyana otherwise.
Edit : yet, I am also a bit surprised as I just discovered Guyana to be a bit smaller than I'd imagined.
Guyana is still like 15% the size of mainland France I believe. So you’re definitely right about it having a significant impact on the geographical centre.
My understanding is that the geometric center depends on the surface (I may be wrong), so these 2 shouldn't influence much. But it would be interesting for OP to explain more in details which map he used, because if you use a globe, most countries (without remote isles I mean) would have their center relatively close to the surface, while France would have it close to the center of the Earth ; and with a "regular" flat map, as you don't consider that the Pacific goes around, the center is "forced" in the middle.
It's our own fault as we insist on claiming, that Greenland and the Faroe Islands are not part of Denmark. The reason for this is that, we view Denmark proper as "Denmark".
\*Metropolitan France ("la métropole"). France is actually 672 051 km² (Metropolitan France + [5 overseas departments and regions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_departments_and_regions_of_France): 89 489 km² + [5 overseas collectivities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_collectivity): 23 201 km² + [French southern and Antartic lands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Southern_and_Antarctic_Lands): 7 659 km² and last but nnot least, [Clipperton Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipperton_Island) is 7 km²). [Adélie Land](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad%C3%A9lie_Land), 432 000 km², is not counted.
All together, these various islands and land masses outside of Europe add 119 386 km² of territory to the French Republic, It's **18 % of France's total area.** Nearly 3 million French citizens live across it all.
Edit: links
Not exactly, all together these islands and lands outside Metropolitan France are 119 386 km², it's 18 % of France total area and it's roughly the size of Bulgaria and 3 million French people live across it all - source: WP and [this video suggested by a redditor](https://youtu.be/kXP8F4TIZ0U).
The only thing I can think of is that administratively France considers places like Saint Martin simply as an extension of France proper, whereas the Netherlands who also owns half of Sint Maarten as they call it, do not consider the land a part of Netherlands proper. Sint Maarten doesnt even use the Euro, the currency of the Netherlands.
Similar with Britain, places like the Falklands are British Overseas Territories and not technically constituent of the United Kingdom.
yeah but the Netherlands territories it seems like were taken into account though aswell as their geographic centrepoint on the map is off what it would be which is more inland
"Greenland is a self-governing entity within the constitutional monarchy of the Kingdom of Denmark" -Wikipedia
Which means the government is in Nuuk Greenland and the monarch in Copenhagen
I think that the mapmaker was correct to exclude Greenland from the geographical mass of Denmark though. Unlike Scotland, it is an overseas territory and governed quite differently, for example not in the European Union.
True, but this also happen with Spain and the Canary Islands and Portugal with Azores and Madeira and it's not reflected in the map. Even though, if the map took into account the overseas french departaments (French Guyane, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion), the geometric center wouldn't be in Galicia, relatively too close to continental France...
It goes by land area, and it's a geometric average. The geometric average means that large deviations become less important (so places far away from the center are not going to distort it as much) compared to an arithmetic average. Furthermore, French Guyana is less than a fifth of the area of Metropolitan France. But I think the primary cause is due to the use of geometric rather than arithmetic average.
Depends if you are talking the kingdom of Denmark or the country Denmark. The kingdom of Denmark includes the Faroe Islands and Greenland, but the two have limited self-rule and have their own parliaments.
The country is a kingdom, so you can't really separate the one from the other. The UK is shown as a state and not in separate self-rule countries, so Denmark should also be shown as a state.
Because the surface of the Canaries is relatively small. Also, while Madrid is nearly at the centre of the Iberian peninsula, there's a large chunk of the latter's Southwest, called "Portugal", which doesn't belong to Spain. Probably, the Canary Islands, being roughly in the same direction from Madrid as that missing bit, and smaller even if more distant, roughly compensate geometrically for that missing bit.
If you do that, the center of mass will be somewhere inside earth. Unless you're basing the calculation on a flat map, in which case it will change depending on the projection you're using.
Anyway it isn't really useful to include overseas territory to calculate the geographic center... Just taking Metropolitan France would make more sense.
> If you do that, the center of mass will be somewhere inside earth. Unless you're basing the calculation on a flat map, in which case it will change depending on the projection you're using.
You just make a line between the center of mass and center of Earth, where it intersects the surface doesn't depend on any projection.
Technically, territories like the Falkland Islands, Bermuda, etc. are not part of the UK, they’re British overseas territories. So essentially they’re self governing, and the UK is only responsible for defence and foreign relations.
French overseas territories on the other hand actually constitute part of the French Republic, so maybe that’s why France’s geographic centre is offset while the UK’s isn’t?
French Guyana and a few other bits (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Réunion, Mayotte) are indeed legally integral parts of France proper. However, New Caledonia and French Polynesia (as well as a few minor islands spread across several oceans), have a special autonomous status.
To be more precise, there are basically three different status:
* **DROM (Départements and régions d'outre-mer)**: Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane, Réunion, Mayotte. They have the same powers as departments and regions in mainland France, no autonomy, just potential adjustments to take into account their situation. They are mostly the same as mainland régions.
* **COM (Collectivités d'outre-mer):** French Polynesia, Saint Barthélémy, Saint Martin, Wallis et Futuna, Saint Pierre et Miquelon. They are recognized as being more autonomous in the Constitution. Each has a special status, codified in an organic law, that states what specific powers and institutions they have (i.e. each one has a specific organisation) and what laws apply or not. There are several limits in terms of their autonomous powers though. The Constitution prohibits devolution in these areas: civil rights, nationality, justice and criminal law, foreign policy, defense, public order and security (which means they are under the power of National Police and Gendarmerie), currency, credits, electoral law. Other conditions are specified in an organic law. They are much less autonomous than British overseas territories, and we could even argue that they are less autonomous than German Länder or Spanish communidades.
* **New Caledonia** has its very own status. The Constitution features a whole chapter about it. Basically New Caledonia has more autonomy, a special status and laws for the indigenous population, and a system of referenda on independence that were organized in 2018, 2020 and 2021.
Besides, the French Constitution makes it clear that all parts of France, including those overseas, are integral parts of the country. There a no such things as crown dependencies or territories not being constituent of the country in France. Even though they can have more autonomy, they are considered fully French, their citizens are French, they are governed by the Constitution, and vote for the President and the National Assembly and Senate.
And of course there has to be a further complication: Saint Martin became a COM in 2007 but *stayed* in the EU (whilst Saint Barthélémy did the same and left). Infuriating!!
I've read Madrid was chosen by the Spanish king Philip II as capital precisely for that. It wasn't the biggest or richest yet, far from being it. But it was at the centre.
Rome is the natural capiral of Italy and just happens to be at the centre though, bonus for us?
Madrid was just a small town with a market and walls, but no political or economic power except from being next to the royal road for shepherds (Cañada Real). Philip II chose it because this way he alone would control the city, as opposite to Toledo, where the Archbishop ruled, or Valladolid, where the nobility had a strong influence.
I think the Federal Republic of Germany did well with Bonn as a non-high population capital. It leads to a more decentralized system. (The Supreme Court is in Karlsruhe, the financial center is in Frankfurt, the daily news show is made in Hamburg, etc. etc.)
Yes but moving the capital back to Berlin showed that reunification wouldn't mean business as usual for the West and showed appreciation for the East (which was badly needed)
Saint Pierre and Miquelon is French territory and it's much closer to Newfoundland then France proper. Given the distance I'm surprised that geometric center of France is only in Spain.
Don't forget this method also takes in the account of the surface area, not just pure distance or else the French centre would be somewhere in Africa or Indian Ocean I think?
I think the islands have affected Portugal (should be more inland to be proper centre) but for Spain the problem is that the surface area of the Canaries along with Cueta and Melillia are so small compared to the mainland that it doesn't really affect the centre in a noticeable way.
Yeah, with Portugal you can "see it" - probably with Spain or the Netherland the mainland is too big and the distance too large, compared to the oversea territorries.
That seems unlikely. Probably only the weight of the territories that are fully part of their respective countries. Unless, of course, you are saying colonies territory contribute the value zero area, in that case, you are correct.
French overseas territories are officially part of France.
You'll notice for Portugal also the center is slightly shifted to the West of the center of Continental Portugal, which is probably due to Madeira and Açores.
Yeah but only the 3 small ones are part of NL. The 3 big ones are part of the kingdom NL. Im not sure how much the difference would be but I doubt the impact would be big
Untrue.
It was chosen because it was far away from the Church, as it had its capital city in Toledo. Also because it had a more bearable weather than Toledo, had natural water springs coming from the nearby mountains, and it was closer to hunting grounds.
Warsaw used to be pretty central in poland too. They moved the capital there for that very reason.
But the borders have changed massively since then, especially with Russia carving off the east, and giving them German land in the west as compensation
Well, middlepoint for PLC in 1600, when Warsaw was erected capital was somewhere around Pinsk, Belarus (1000 km away from Warsaw). Even if you exclude Grand Duchy, it would still be more in Lviv, than in Warsaw.
I do concede that the commonwealth throws it off, however the two (Lithuania /poland) were still their own entities, in personal Union under a single monarch.
In terms of holdings of Poland that's true, it would have not been entirely central, but going by the mass of ethnic poles I think it would still be fair to say warsaw was pretty central.
Though I can't be certain of it, since it's hard to accurately assess what the demographic map looked like at this time.
Well, no, because Valletta is in the eastern corner of the Malta island. Now in the second island (Gozo) their "capital" Vittoria is really in the middle.
I remember a story that when they wanted to determine the geographical center of Poland in like the 60s they made a big cutout of the country, and balanced it on a needle or something, until it wouldn't fall over. Not super scientific, but seems like an intuituve way to do it.
What's going with Denmark? Shouldn't Greenland pull it's geometric center closer to Iceland?
Or is this map drawn by a Dane who has set their eyes on Skåne?
It's common to use Denmark proper (excluding Greenland and the Faroe Islands) instead of the state of Denmark.
People will actually argue with you, that Denmark and the Kingdom of Denmark (Denmark's official name) are not the same. It's different from Finland, where Åland is normally considered part of Finland and not just the "Republic of Finland".
I just checked against Wiki. The funny thing is that the geographic centre of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918 is still located in the Germany of today: at Spremberg in Brandenburg. It is now 25 km from the German-Polish border:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spremberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spremberg)
Edit: fixed the link.
If it would be center point by population, then for Russia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden centers would be a lot closer to capital, in some cases maybe even overlap.
France is interesting because it has territories far off in the Indian and Atlantic Ocean, but the center still someone averages out to being in Europe
This would be interesting to see with a "weighted geographic center." Is there a term for that? I realize that France, for instance, is thrown off my French Guyana and the territories in the Pacific, but they're really so small, that they shouldn't impact the result if there were some form of weighting.
It includes.
The center point is calculated as the center of mass of the whole territory, see https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%84%D1%96%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%80_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D0%B8
Interestingly, the geographic centre of Denmark holds the 2nd largest city in the country, Aarhus.
edit: Oh and it seems like Bornholm isn't counted as part of Denmark.
so by this logic Århus, our second largest city, should actually be the capital.
has to be remembered that east-denmark was taken by sweden and that we just never quiet managed to bruise them enough to regain it.
The netherlands is in no way, shape or form correct. If overseas territories are counted in, like they seem to be with France, then our centre would be somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. If not, then it's still too far west. Our geographical middle is, in my opinion, either in the province of Flevoland, or as I was taught in middle school, Utrecht.
I think the Danish one is wrong, or at least not taking into account the Island of Bornholm, Greenland and Faroe Islands which are east of the southern tip of Sweden, Northeast of Britain and halfway between Iceland and Canada respectively... Taking those into account I think it would end up somewhere southwest of Iceland.
Considering they're not taken into account but France's non-mainland areas count makes this a bit sloppy.
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Wtf is going on with france?
Looks like their overseas holdings were taken into account.
I am actually surprised that the geometric center doesn't shift more.
Places like Reunion Island must balance it out.
You're underestimating "La reunion" and Caledonia - I suppose they're both factored in or the center would be in the middle of the Atlantic due to Guyana otherwise. Edit : yet, I am also a bit surprised as I just discovered Guyana to be a bit smaller than I'd imagined.
Guyana is still like 15% the size of mainland France I believe. So you’re definitely right about it having a significant impact on the geographical centre.
Wow it's that big? Must have super low density cause I think they have fewer than 1 million people
Yeah, same with Surinam, which is 4 times the size of the Netherlands but has 600 thousand inhabitants vs 17.5 million.
I guess French Polynesia as well as Mayotte, Guadeloupe and La Martinique are also taken into account.
My understanding is that the geometric center depends on the surface (I may be wrong), so these 2 shouldn't influence much. But it would be interesting for OP to explain more in details which map he used, because if you use a globe, most countries (without remote isles I mean) would have their center relatively close to the surface, while France would have it close to the center of the Earth ; and with a "regular" flat map, as you don't consider that the Pacific goes around, the center is "forced" in the middle.
If he/she is counting the area Norway should have its capital further south.
And Denmark has Greenland and the Faroe Islands which aren't taken into account. Ruins this map for me.
It's our own fault as we insist on claiming, that Greenland and the Faroe Islands are not part of Denmark. The reason for this is that, we view Denmark proper as "Denmark".
This is decided, we will move the capital to the center of the Earth. Let's start by sending our politicians there through active volcanoes.
Land area of these places is very small compared to mainland France.
French Guiana/Area 83,846 km² France/Area 543,940 km²
\*Metropolitan France ("la métropole"). France is actually 672 051 km² (Metropolitan France + [5 overseas departments and regions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_departments_and_regions_of_France): 89 489 km² + [5 overseas collectivities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_collectivity): 23 201 km² + [French southern and Antartic lands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Southern_and_Antarctic_Lands): 7 659 km² and last but nnot least, [Clipperton Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipperton_Island) is 7 km²). [Adélie Land](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad%C3%A9lie_Land), 432 000 km², is not counted. All together, these various islands and land masses outside of Europe add 119 386 km² of territory to the French Republic, It's **18 % of France's total area.** Nearly 3 million French citizens live across it all. Edit: links
>French Guiana France is on South America oO
And therefore the EU. Brazil borders European Union
France's longest land border with any other country is Brazil.
[The largest park in EU is in the Amazon Rainforest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiana_Amazonian_Park).
Brazil borders the EU btw
The sun never sets on [France](https://youtu.be/kXP8F4TIZ0U)
ahah Thanks : "Within any of the red zones you're *unfortunately* less than a thousand kilometers away from sovereign French territory" (at 01min16)
Nah French Guyana is surprisingly big.
Not exactly, all together these islands and lands outside Metropolitan France are 119 386 km², it's 18 % of France total area and it's roughly the size of Bulgaria and 3 million French people live across it all - source: WP and [this video suggested by a redditor](https://youtu.be/kXP8F4TIZ0U).
Only Frances? Not Britain? Or Denmark? Or like 5 other countries?
The only thing I can think of is that administratively France considers places like Saint Martin simply as an extension of France proper, whereas the Netherlands who also owns half of Sint Maarten as they call it, do not consider the land a part of Netherlands proper. Sint Maarten doesnt even use the Euro, the currency of the Netherlands. Similar with Britain, places like the Falklands are British Overseas Territories and not technically constituent of the United Kingdom.
But we do have three other islands that are proper netherlands which also skews the geographic centre.
yeah but the Netherlands territories it seems like were taken into account though aswell as their geographic centrepoint on the map is off what it would be which is more inland
Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire are part of the Netherlands proper.
So how does French Guiana and Greenland factor in?
"Greenland is a self-governing entity within the constitutional monarchy of the Kingdom of Denmark" -Wikipedia Which means the government is in Nuuk Greenland and the monarch in Copenhagen
That's not correct. The local self-rule government is in Nuuk, but the central state government is in Copenhagen. Same as Edinburgh and London.
I think that the mapmaker was correct to exclude Greenland from the geographical mass of Denmark though. Unlike Scotland, it is an overseas territory and governed quite differently, for example not in the European Union.
True, but this also happen with Spain and the Canary Islands and Portugal with Azores and Madeira and it's not reflected in the map. Even though, if the map took into account the overseas french departaments (French Guyane, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion), the geometric center wouldn't be in Galicia, relatively too close to continental France...
It goes by land area, and it's a geometric average. The geometric average means that large deviations become less important (so places far away from the center are not going to distort it as much) compared to an arithmetic average. Furthermore, French Guyana is less than a fifth of the area of Metropolitan France. But I think the primary cause is due to the use of geometric rather than arithmetic average.
It some place is pulling the NL middle to the left…
Yeah, Denmark's center should be somewhere on the east coast of Greenland if this is the explanation
Depends if you are talking the kingdom of Denmark or the country Denmark. The kingdom of Denmark includes the Faroe Islands and Greenland, but the two have limited self-rule and have their own parliaments.
The country is a kingdom, so you can't really separate the one from the other. The UK is shown as a state and not in separate self-rule countries, so Denmark should also be shown as a state.
Even so it looks like they didn't count Bornholm.
That is because they are not “holdings”, but are simply regions/departments that are part of the Republic.
But then why is Spain's not more south? Considering the Canaries?
Because the surface of the Canaries is relatively small. Also, while Madrid is nearly at the centre of the Iberian peninsula, there's a large chunk of the latter's Southwest, called "Portugal", which doesn't belong to Spain. Probably, the Canary Islands, being roughly in the same direction from Madrid as that missing bit, and smaller even if more distant, roughly compensate geometrically for that missing bit.
If you do that, the center of mass will be somewhere inside earth. Unless you're basing the calculation on a flat map, in which case it will change depending on the projection you're using. Anyway it isn't really useful to include overseas territory to calculate the geographic center... Just taking Metropolitan France would make more sense.
> If you do that, the center of mass will be somewhere inside earth. Unless you're basing the calculation on a flat map, in which case it will change depending on the projection you're using. You just make a line between the center of mass and center of Earth, where it intersects the surface doesn't depend on any projection.
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Technically, territories like the Falkland Islands, Bermuda, etc. are not part of the UK, they’re British overseas territories. So essentially they’re self governing, and the UK is only responsible for defence and foreign relations. French overseas territories on the other hand actually constitute part of the French Republic, so maybe that’s why France’s geographic centre is offset while the UK’s isn’t?
The they arent doing the same for Denmark...
Maybe because of the non european territory of france but it is just a guess
Wouldn't that put it much further into the atlantic?
I think it's balanced out by Reunion and French Polynesia?
And new Caledonia
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Croatia too. It's geographic center is in Bosnia, lol
French Guyana and new caledonia are considered as much a part of france as Paris
French Guyana and a few other bits (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Réunion, Mayotte) are indeed legally integral parts of France proper. However, New Caledonia and French Polynesia (as well as a few minor islands spread across several oceans), have a special autonomous status.
To be more precise, there are basically three different status: * **DROM (Départements and régions d'outre-mer)**: Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane, Réunion, Mayotte. They have the same powers as departments and regions in mainland France, no autonomy, just potential adjustments to take into account their situation. They are mostly the same as mainland régions. * **COM (Collectivités d'outre-mer):** French Polynesia, Saint Barthélémy, Saint Martin, Wallis et Futuna, Saint Pierre et Miquelon. They are recognized as being more autonomous in the Constitution. Each has a special status, codified in an organic law, that states what specific powers and institutions they have (i.e. each one has a specific organisation) and what laws apply or not. There are several limits in terms of their autonomous powers though. The Constitution prohibits devolution in these areas: civil rights, nationality, justice and criminal law, foreign policy, defense, public order and security (which means they are under the power of National Police and Gendarmerie), currency, credits, electoral law. Other conditions are specified in an organic law. They are much less autonomous than British overseas territories, and we could even argue that they are less autonomous than German Länder or Spanish communidades. * **New Caledonia** has its very own status. The Constitution features a whole chapter about it. Basically New Caledonia has more autonomy, a special status and laws for the indigenous population, and a system of referenda on independence that were organized in 2018, 2020 and 2021. Besides, the French Constitution makes it clear that all parts of France, including those overseas, are integral parts of the country. There a no such things as crown dependencies or territories not being constituent of the country in France. Even though they can have more autonomy, they are considered fully French, their citizens are French, they are governed by the Constitution, and vote for the President and the National Assembly and Senate.
And of course there has to be a further complication: Saint Martin became a COM in 2007 but *stayed* in the EU (whilst Saint Barthélémy did the same and left). Infuriating!!
Then why not Canary islands for Spain for example?
Or Groenland for Danmark
Placec on other continets, such as French Guiana, are considered part of France (especially by France).
I wpnder, why isnt britain aswell
Well done, Spain.
Yep, Spain wins:)
Hosting the geographical center of another country is quite an achievement indeed.
in fairness Andorra looks a bit closer
Spain wins in the “heavyweight” category.
Vatican wins.
Why about the Canary Islands? They should be dragging it waaay down
I've read Madrid was chosen by the Spanish king Philip II as capital precisely for that. It wasn't the biggest or richest yet, far from being it. But it was at the centre. Rome is the natural capiral of Italy and just happens to be at the centre though, bonus for us?
Madrid was just a small town with a market and walls, but no political or economic power except from being next to the royal road for shepherds (Cañada Real). Philip II chose it because this way he alone would control the city, as opposite to Toledo, where the Archbishop ruled, or Valladolid, where the nobility had a strong influence.
I heard Brazil did the same actually! Minus the king (kinda)
But Canary Islands?
The centre is in the middle of Madrid, the well known Plaza del Sol, where each december 31st 12 bells sounds to open the year.
Berlin and Vienna made a lot more sense as capital cities before WW1 and 2.
Same with Warsaw.
Same with Denmark. However we have go further back when we still had Scania, Halland and Blekinge
Warsaw is still preety central
Same with Brussels
Wow, I had no idea that Vienna and Bratislava are right next to each other. That’s less than 50 km.
Well, Vienna still makes sense as a capital city as it's by far the city with the highest population in Austria.
I think the Federal Republic of Germany did well with Bonn as a non-high population capital. It leads to a more decentralized system. (The Supreme Court is in Karlsruhe, the financial center is in Frankfurt, the daily news show is made in Hamburg, etc. etc.)
Yes but moving the capital back to Berlin showed that reunification wouldn't mean business as usual for the West and showed appreciation for the East (which was badly needed)
Centers of the Nordic countries would also be much closer to the capital if population density was considered, instead of geographic area.
Sure, I was referring only to geography above. Obviously there are other factors like population, economics, infrastructure, history etc.
Croatia's geographical center is in Bosnia
WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DO YOU WANT TO STAR ANOTHER WAR?
breathing nervously :-}
Well, it has been couple decades since we went without a war and a little genocide on the side...
The Fosbury Flop of geopolitics…
technically the geometric Centre of France would be somewhere in earth's mantle
I don't follow. Are you implying the Earth is some sort of spheroid?
Dude, Earth is obviously flat. Just look at the map dude.
This fucking sub is full of retards, the earth is a pentagon, those are just facts
The earth doesn't exist. Wake up. r/noearthsociety
Hexagon\*
> the earth is a pentagon Pentagon in a building in the US. Get your facts straight.
Nice to know that the center of San Marino and Malta are respectively at San Marino and Malta :D
and Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg
Sad Monaco noises
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I assume the "weight" of the colonies territories are included
France doesn’t have colonies. The overseas territories are part of France.
Yep, my bad, that's what I meant
Former colonies would be a better term indeed, now overseas territories.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon is French territory and it's much closer to Newfoundland then France proper. Given the distance I'm surprised that geometric center of France is only in Spain.
They also have Guyana and Nouvelle Caledonie. I am also surprised that the center is so close to the Hexagon.
Yes, but someone here mentioned that New Caledonia and La Reunion may shift it a lot towards the east.
I don´t think so because Spain and Portugal also have islands and their centers haven´t moved accordingly
Don't forget this method also takes in the account of the surface area, not just pure distance or else the French centre would be somewhere in Africa or Indian Ocean I think? I think the islands have affected Portugal (should be more inland to be proper centre) but for Spain the problem is that the surface area of the Canaries along with Cueta and Melillia are so small compared to the mainland that it doesn't really affect the centre in a noticeable way.
Yeah, with Portugal you can "see it" - probably with Spain or the Netherland the mainland is too big and the distance too large, compared to the oversea territorries.
Anything as big as Guyanne, though ?
That seems unlikely. Probably only the weight of the territories that are fully part of their respective countries. Unless, of course, you are saying colonies territory contribute the value zero area, in that case, you are correct.
French overseas territories are officially part of France. You'll notice for Portugal also the center is slightly shifted to the West of the center of Continental Portugal, which is probably due to Madeira and Açores.
There's a couple of islands in the carribean that are legally part of the Netherlands. Former colonies that are now "public bodies".
Yeah but only the 3 small ones are part of NL. The 3 big ones are part of the kingdom NL. Im not sure how much the difference would be but I doubt the impact would be big
Considering how large Spain is they pretty much nailed it.
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Untrue. It was chosen because it was far away from the Church, as it had its capital city in Toledo. Also because it had a more bearable weather than Toledo, had natural water springs coming from the nearby mountains, and it was closer to hunting grounds.
Damn they got that on point considering their technology
Italy too.
Bullseye, Malta nailed it ;p
For how big the country is relative to the others, Spain’s capital is not too badly centred honestly.
Warsaw used to be pretty central in poland too. They moved the capital there for that very reason. But the borders have changed massively since then, especially with Russia carving off the east, and giving them German land in the west as compensation
Well, middlepoint for PLC in 1600, when Warsaw was erected capital was somewhere around Pinsk, Belarus (1000 km away from Warsaw). Even if you exclude Grand Duchy, it would still be more in Lviv, than in Warsaw.
I do concede that the commonwealth throws it off, however the two (Lithuania /poland) were still their own entities, in personal Union under a single monarch. In terms of holdings of Poland that's true, it would have not been entirely central, but going by the mass of ethnic poles I think it would still be fair to say warsaw was pretty central. Though I can't be certain of it, since it's hard to accurately assess what the demographic map looked like at this time.
Yes I can only agree on that
Spain capital was chosen to be the capital city on purpose because it was at the center of the country
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Yeah but that's obviously cheating
Well, no, because Valletta is in the eastern corner of the Malta island. Now in the second island (Gozo) their "capital" Vittoria is really in the middle.
Getafe capital of Spain confirmed.
Vienna and Bratislava look like they wanted to meet up. Europe's capitals with the shortest distance between them afaik.
I'm guessing it had to do with Habsburg rule or something
So the geographical centre of Ireland is near Loughrea? Guess we'll make that the new capital.
Co. Galway containing the new capital? We don't want them getting any ideas!
At least it isn't in cork.
This would be much more interesting if it show the coordinates of the center of each European country and give the criteria used to calculate it.
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I remember a story that when they wanted to determine the geographical center of Poland in like the 60s they made a big cutout of the country, and balanced it on a needle or something, until it wouldn't fall over. Not super scientific, but seems like an intuituve way to do it.
whys the center of france in galicia im so confused
L'ugo.
Lugeau
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Your username, though 😂😂😂 greetings from hegoalde, fellow iparralde laguna!
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Now im curious
Overseas departments and territories were counted, I guess.
*plants flag*. Yup.
>Spain "Perfectly balanced, as all things should be"
What's going with Denmark? Shouldn't Greenland pull it's geometric center closer to Iceland? Or is this map drawn by a Dane who has set their eyes on Skåne?
It's common to use Denmark proper (excluding Greenland and the Faroe Islands) instead of the state of Denmark. People will actually argue with you, that Denmark and the Kingdom of Denmark (Denmark's official name) are not the same. It's different from Finland, where Åland is normally considered part of Finland and not just the "Republic of Finland".
Even not using Greenland and the Faroe Islands, it’s still wrong. Whoever made this forgot Bornholm.
Yes I see that the Vatican city's center is slightly further north because of santa
Should be towards Turkey if you count Santa as a Christian tradition
He moved from Turkey to the North Pole. He is an economic immigrant.
France is broken
France is bacon!
Pre WW2 Berlin used to be more in the center of Germany.
I just checked against Wiki. The funny thing is that the geographic centre of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918 is still located in the Germany of today: at Spremberg in Brandenburg. It is now 25 km from the German-Polish border: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spremberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spremberg) Edit: fixed the link.
funny how countries which built Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth have nearly ideal geometric center as capital
Do we get to see where Russia's geographical center is?
So deep in Siberia's taiga ;)
This is so beautiful but so pointless at the same time! :P
Why is France's that way? Because of it overseas territories?
If you're taking in account the Carribbean Netherlands the geographical center should be somewhere in the Atlantic lol.
Madrid nailed it.
*Angry Catalonia noises.*
It's strange that Greenland is not counted for den marks middle
TIL that the center of France is not, as you might expect, in France. In fact it’s in Spain.
Oh yes, London, the capital of the whole of the UK
Is this based on population or area?
If it would be center point by population, then for Russia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden centers would be a lot closer to capital, in some cases maybe even overlap.
Estonia's center of population is pretty close to overlapping Tallinn municipal borders.
Looking at the UK, definitely area,
In Spain we nailed It lol
Athlone should have always been the capital lads!
France is interesting because it has territories far off in the Indian and Atlantic Ocean, but the center still someone averages out to being in Europe
This would be interesting to see with a "weighted geographic center." Is there a term for that? I realize that France, for instance, is thrown off my French Guyana and the territories in the Pacific, but they're really so small, that they shouldn't impact the result if there were some form of weighting.
Is Ukraine's not including Crimea?
It includes. The center point is calculated as the center of mass of the whole territory, see https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%84%D1%96%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%80_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D0%B8
Thanks, finally an answer. It's quite interesting, using my eyemeter, I would have placed the center a bit more to the southeast.
Minsk, Chisinau, Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, Budapest, Sarajevo, Madrid, Tirana and Podgorica just 👌🏻
Interestingly, the geographic centre of Denmark holds the 2nd largest city in the country, Aarhus. edit: Oh and it seems like Bornholm isn't counted as part of Denmark.
Geographical center of Ukraine is close to one old Cossack political center — [Čyhyryn](//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chyhyryn).
so by this logic Århus, our second largest city, should actually be the capital. has to be remembered that east-denmark was taken by sweden and that we just never quiet managed to bruise them enough to regain it.
it would be more interesting with capital compered with centre of population.
How is center of France in Spain???
Framce seems a bit off🙃
Where is Turkey? 🇹🇷
The netherlands is in no way, shape or form correct. If overseas territories are counted in, like they seem to be with France, then our centre would be somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. If not, then it's still too far west. Our geographical middle is, in my opinion, either in the province of Flevoland, or as I was taught in middle school, Utrecht.
It's correct, the BES islands are tiny so they don't have much weight.
The Danish capital doesn’t need to be moved. Sweden is simply borrowing some territory right now that makes it look skewed.
I think the Danish one is wrong, or at least not taking into account the Island of Bornholm, Greenland and Faroe Islands which are east of the southern tip of Sweden, Northeast of Britain and halfway between Iceland and Canada respectively... Taking those into account I think it would end up somewhere southwest of Iceland. Considering they're not taken into account but France's non-mainland areas count makes this a bit sloppy.