By the time I was 10 years old I could rattle off the names of all the US states and their capitals. We learned as much “rest of the world” geography as Canadian geography. I think the Brits have a similar approach.
Learning about Canadian history and geography would be an elective class in the US. Not sure if that has changed much since I was there.
We had to do American history and Canadian history in Canada (high school) back in the 90s
In my grade school days, I remember bits of geography coming up every so often in “social studies” classes. I don’t remember how much the location of states and their capitals was required knowledge – I picked it up from my own weird hobbies – and I’m certain almost no effort was made to teach us to identify individual countries, aside from what we picked up in world history modules.
I do remember taking tests on identifying continents.
I also remember getting in trouble in elementary school (in a southern US city) because I tried (unsuccessfully) to correct a teacher about rivers generally flowing from north to south. My counter-examples of the St. Lawrence, Mackenzie, and Rhine Rivers were not appreciated.
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We had very little “Canadian” history taught to us but kids get more of that now. We had as much US as Canadian history but British history was the biggest piece.
To be fair, there was much less history then, and the ratio of British to CN was huge! 
I don’t remember learning all the nations/capitals of the world in school, but we did us states in elementary school. The middle school my kids went to did us states/capitals one semester (draw free hand) and nations of the world (draw free hand) the next.
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only if the elective class is titles “shit we can’t pretend to care about”
i learned the provinces and territory names as a kid. being in new england and having family in the maritimes helped. was it from school? not that i recall.
and for mexico and central america and south america? only if you took spanish and it came up in that class for the most part. or played Risk.
I bet most Americans have never heard of either Liberia. I think the first time I heard of it was when there was a Final Jeopardy about it. Category was National Capitals and the “answer” was “These two cities are the only capitals named after United States presidents.”
What are Washington DC, USA and Monrovia, Liberia?
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As well as that little river called the Nile.
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That is interesting!
I first heard of the African Liberia when we studied the history of slavery in school. Forgot about it until a Pan Am flight I was on in the 1980s touched down briefly in Monrovia en route home from Abidjan.
One of my best American actuary friends has an intimate connection with Liberia. He had a PhD in history but after a few years of being a history professor he pivoted to become a P&C actuary. His Master’s thesis was on the American Colonization Society and Emigration to Liberia 1865 to 1904 and his PhD dissertation was on French-Liberian relations from 1847 to 1930. We haven’t discussed Liberia as there is a sizeable knowledge gap between us!
My most recent memory of Liberia is that they elected a FEMALE president in 2006(why can’t we?). When I saw that in the news, I read up a little bit more about Liberia.
I also know about Liberia, Costa Rica because every winter the hubby would say, “Let’s go to Costa Rica.”. We went there once back in 2015 but we didn’t go to Guanacaste. When I looked into going there, I found out the airport code is LIR, for Guanacaste, Liberia. No, we’re not going there this winter.
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My FIL in Brazil often regaled us with stories about his time working in Africa (he was a Mechanical Engineer and would work in energy Projects in the old Portuguese colonies (Angola, Mozambique etc)) and he basically never set foot in Liberia.
He told us that it was crazy dangerous in the 80s because the govt was overhrown (coup d’etat), and this from a guy who worked in Angola during their various civil wars.
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I would be interested in your impressions from your 2015 trip as we are still in planning stages. It will probably be a few days at a nice beach but primarily at a rainforest lodge.
You and your husband sound like my wife and me. I am keen to go but she is ambivalent at best about travelling anywhere right now. My oldest daughter and my son would go with me on a minute’s notice but my wife has always been my preferred travel companion.
We just joined an escorted tour( I’m always in charge of planning and I’m lazy so I just look for tours). We started in San Jose.
Then went to Cano Negro, spent a day on a boat tour down the Rio Frio to see the flora and fauna of the region. I remember we stopped briefly somewhere along the river and got off and walked a bit. The guide said we were in Nicaragua. Cool. I walked on Nicaraguan soil.
Went to Eco Termales Hot Springs.
Hiked in Arenal National Park and viewed the volcano. From there we went to Monteverde, the “cloud forest”, where you can walk on hanging bridges that go up and up. I only made it to the first bridge when my fear of heights kicked in. So, I turned around but the hubby continued to the top.
Visited a traditional Costa Rican coffee farm. Ah, good coffee!
Nest day on to Manuel Antonio for a couple of days. Did a Catamaran cruise. That was nice. There is a nice beach. We watched monkeys dive from the trees to steal people’s food on the picnic tables. They are so quick.So much fun!
Then back to San Jose and then to winter wonderland.
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Thanks. This is helpful.
We are still researching whether to just book a tour for the duration of the trip or go independently, which has been our modus operandi for most trips. Once we have nailed down the places we want to visit we will explore the logistics.
Hmm, we learned it (the nation state) was organized by freed slaves returning from the Americas. Can’t remember if that was elementary or HS.
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Are you also going to be staying in the mainland?
They are having a lot of power generation issues.
Staying 2 nights in Quito. The rest of the time we will be on a boat, so I don’t think that should be an issue.
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Well I must have learned about it in Geography class, but I don’t recall.
This will be a fairly short visit so just booked hotels for three nights each in Monteverde and Manuel Antonio. Could easily have spent a few weeks in Costa Rica given all the things to see so may go back if this trip goes well.
Decided to fly into Liberia and out of San Jose so as to see a bit of each of the two main cities. Didn’t book a tour so will get around using shuttles.
Thanks again for the input. Hope you are enjoying The Galapagos.
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