Somebody claimed that The Gambia must be the ‘weirdest shaped’ country, and the internet begged to differ
German geographer and demographer Simon Kuestenmacher was idly thumbing his way through the world atlas when his eye was caught by The Gambia, a country in West Africa and the smallest country in continental Africa (thanks again, Wiki!).
What struck him was the peculiar shape of the country, which he mused was probably the strangest of all the countries in the world.
This sparked off a very entertaining and informative Twitter thread and we were very much here for it.
Here’s his initial Tweet.
Calling the Gambia the weirdest shaped country on the planet seems cruel but is probably justified? Happy to stand corrected, so please let me know of more weirdly shaped nations. pic.twitter.com/LXjxGzucEi
— Simon Kuestenmacher (@simongerman600) March 18, 2025
A few people said that the shape wasn’t that odd, given the context…
1.
It looks like it’s based on a river valley. In Scotland, clan territories were based on glens or valleys. This is a sensible geographic diversion. A single authority owns the water way and surrounding land. The borders are ridges and are difficult to cross and have little value.
— Shelduck (@Oz_ShelDuck) March 18, 2025
2.
River shape seems rational.
San Marino, Andorra, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Liechtenstein… hardly have rivers and they didn't even make it all the way to the ocean if they have one.
— EJTower (@EJTower) March 18, 2025
3.
Gambia isn't weird; it's the territory near a river.
Senegal is weird.
— argyriou (@argyriou15) March 19, 2025
Fair enough. But people then shared their own nominations for the countries (and territories) with the most bizarre shapes.
4.
Slovenia. Shaped like a chicken.
Source: https://t.co/gNeI4eoXGY pic.twitter.com/tiezt8vQDq
— xmp125a (@xmp125a) March 18, 2025
5.
Croatia. They really like the beaches. pic.twitter.com/X5wZTDFwEX
— tian/天 (@xtbot) March 18, 2025
6.
Finland is a maiden pic.twitter.com/ZD67M6AeHl
— Nox| (@noxflux) March 19, 2025
7.
For me it's this corner of Tajikistan that's surrounded by Kyrgyzstan that's surrounded by Tajikistan that's surrounded by Uzbekistan that's surrounded by Kyrgyzstan. pic.twitter.com/sazLEJFsyh
— Sören (@soren2point0) March 18, 2025
8.
The Vatican pic.twitter.com/T5aEGWBAk4
— T. Vuorinen (@Geenimetsuri) March 18, 2025
9.
Whatever this is, even though it's only a small part of either countries pic.twitter.com/733V0w1i4I
— Lars Keizer (@Lars_Keizer) March 18, 2025