History Main / GlobalIgnorance

** Beijing however, is still ''officially'' still called "Pekin(g)" in French, Dutch, German, Russian, Castilian Spanish (but not in UsefulNotes/LatinAmerica) and - amusingly - Japanese. (As mentioned, the "Peking" to "Beijing" thing is due to a sound change. Due to UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}'s long history with China, they learned the pronunciation back when it was pronounced "Peking" by every Chinese and never bothered to update it.)

* In a [[http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/SBS SBS]] manga column for ''Franchise/OnePiece'', a fan asked Creator/EiichiroOda which real world ''countries'' each of the Straw Hats would come from. He answers by saying that Luffy would be UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}ian, Zoro is UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese, Nami's UsefulNotes/{{Swed|en}}ish, Sanji's UsefulNotes/{{Fr|ance}}ench, Chopper's UsefulNotes/{{Canad|a}}ian, Robin's UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n, Franky's [[UsefulNotes/UnitedStates American]], Brook's UsefulNotes/{{Austria}}n... and Usopp? Oda says that he's ''UsefulNotes/{{Africa}}n'', giving the name of a continent instead of a country.

* The same problem (among a few others) is prevalent in the German school system, too. The average German high school graduate has a reasonably good shot at correctly identifying Earth's continents, but most won't be able to pinpoint the various countries on them (hell, many can't even name all of Germany's sixteen federal states, much less tell you their location). No wonder, given how superficially actual global geography is treated in class. Stuff like demographics, economy and such usually doesn't get any mention at all. The best you can hope for is one or two class hours of skimming a world map, and perhaps a short test of your knowledge of the neighbouring countries and their capitals, and that's about it. Fortunately, Germans are just as travel-happy as the Danish, so anyone with an interest in the world at large is likely to avert this trope, to varying degrees.

* There was a somewhat infamous episode of ''Series/AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader'' where ''Series/AmericanIdol'' contestant Kellie Pickler showed up. "I thought Europe ''was'' a country..."

* ''Fanfic/TrollingTheToad'': In Chapter 5, Umbridge shows herself to not know where Hogwarts is located, despite the fact she's ''teaching'' there. That being said, other than showcasing her stupidity, it's equally likely that Harry is only making such a pedantic remark to humiliate Umbridge further.

Of course there are greater and lesser degrees of this trope, and it can be used in subtly different ways. Not knowing the name of the capital of the country a character is currently in almost certainly is showing how the character is genuinely stupid (and not knowing the capital of one's home country/state/province would ''definitely'' be considered stupid), while being unable to name all of the former Yugoslavian republics[[note]]Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia; Kosovo is an interesting addition, though, as only 97 of the 193 United Nations members [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_Kosovo recognise its independence]][[/note]] is unlikely to be saying a character is dumb unless it's being asked by TheSmartGuy to demean a character. However this can backfire as the 'genius' character demands another name--the capital of Belarus[[note]]Minsk[[/note]]--and ends up stumping themselves.

* In a ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' film, Donkey is served a platter of food by a chef who says "''Bon appétit''" (which is a French expression) and Donkey exclaims: "Oh, boy! Mexican food!"

* ''Anime/BakuganBattleBrawlers'': Julie apparently told both Billy and Dan that she thought Germany was next to Australia.
* Used as a plot point in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket Gundam 0080]]''. Bernie, [[DressingAsTheEnemy posing as a Federation soldier]], claims to be from Australia while making small talk and mentions how he used to love playing in the snow around Christmastime. [[EurekaMoment Several minutes later, the man he was talking to realizes]] that the Southern Hemisphere has '''warm''' weather in December; this is the mistake that blows the team's cover [[spoiler:and gets everyone but Bernie killed. Not to mention that Sydney was wiped out by The ColonyDrop and no longer exists at that time, anyone from Sydney should not be talking like that about it]].

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' had geography as one of J.D.'s weaknesses. He claimed New Zealand was close to "Old Zealand" and pointed out China on the Janitor's globe when he was looking for Iraq.
-->'''Janitor:''' That's China.\\
'''J.D.:''' ''[[NoYou You're]]'' [[LameComeback China.]]\\
'''Janitor:'''...That's an outrageous accusation.

* In a RunningGag, Gob and Maeby in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' believe Portugal is a Spanish-speaking country in South America. The pilot also features Buster mistaking the blue parts of a map for the land (to make it even sillier, he was described a scene or two earlier as having taken graduate-level classes in cartography). Another one involves Gob's plan to hire "Mexicans from Colombia", where Michael points out that they are called "Colombians".
* In one episode of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'', Creator/DrewCarey called [[AfricaIsACountry Africa a great country]]. Greg Proops responds "It's also a ''continent'' if you're a geographer!" The contestants turned it into a RunningGag for the rest of the episode.
* In ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', on his journey to Alaska Francis was conned into changing his US currency for 'Alaskan dollars'.

* In one episode of ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' Shawn thinks that you can get to Europe on a bus. He even buys a bus ticket to [[LondonEnglandSyndrome Paris, Texas]] thinking it will take him to Paris, France.
* Seems to be a common trait among the "Beauties" in ''Series/BeautyAndTheGeek''.
* ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' being a travel show and all, and not all of the contestants have exactly been geniuses. Occasionally the producers make a task based on it.
** Despite being constantly reminded that they were going to Chile, Season 16's Jordan (the female one) proceeded to request tickets to Santiago, ''China''.
** Season 12:
--->'''Nate:''' Taiwan? We're going to Taiwan? Huh.... I don't know much about Taiwan... but Thai food's pretty good.
** Season 17:
--->'''Phil:''' Nick & Vicki, what's the name of this country?\\
'''Vicki:''' We're in London, right?\\
'''Phil:''' That's right, the country of London.
** Also in Season 17: The teams were visiting a school in Ghana and tasked with identifying Ghana on a map. It went about as well as you would expect.
* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'':
** When Frank, Dee, and Mac tried to play "50 States", Mac and Dee continually name states like "West Dakota", much to Frank's amusement.
** In season 15, Mac and Dennis are amazed at how Charlie is honestly shocked to realize Pittsburgh is in Pennsylvania as he assumes it's impossible a state can have more than one big city.
* In the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Chimera", Carter remarks to her boyfriend Pete Shanahan that there's no zoo in Colorado Springs, apparently completely unaware of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. [[WordOfGod Writer Joseph Mallozi]] said that this was done on purpose to indicate that she spends so much time working she's completely unfamiliar with the city she lives in.
* A massacre at a "Moldavian royal wedding" was a major plotline of the soap series ''Series/Dynasty1981''. Apparently, the show's producers and writers were unaware that Moldavia was a real region and a historical country (not to mention that the real Moldavia isn't a monarchy).
* There was a somewhat infamous episode of ''Series/AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader'' where ''Series/AmericanIdol'' contestant Kellie Pickler showed up. "I thought Europe ''was'' a country..."
* A ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch featured guest host Jerry Seinfeld playing a high-school history teacher. After all his students fail a test, he decides to adopt an interactive approach and opens a discussion about the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Battle of Britain]]. However, the students turn out to be too ignorant for the approach to work, as they don't even know who Britain was fighting.

* In Creator/DerrenBrown's ''The Gathering'' special, he randomly selects an audience member and asks her to think of a country. She does. Her country? Africa. Not only does Derren not call her out on her obvious mistake (Note: there are over 50 countries in Africa) but has her reach under her seat and find a note he left there with the description of the woman in question and her choice of country. That's right, even Derren is guilty of that.
* ''Music/FlightOfTheConchords'':
** People being unaware of New Zealand's existence (or just plain ignorant about New Zealand) is a RunningGag.
** Bret and Jemaine's friend, Dave is always confusing them for Brits, Australians, etc. He later refers to New Zealand as someplace nobody's heard of.
** A racist greengrocer won't serve food to Bret and Jemaine because they are from New Zealand. It's then revealed that he confused New Zealand for Australia and they bond over their hatred of Australians.
** Murray wants to get the American President to met up with the Prime Minster of New Zealand. The President asks if New Zealand's even a real place.
* Referenced in an episode of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' when Ted finds out that Robin doesn't plan her life and out of the blue says she might want to go to Argentina. Robin, who is Canadian, doesn't think too highly of American geography education.
-->'''Ted:''' Why is this the first I hear of Argentina?\\
'''Robin:''' Because American schools suck at geography?
* ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'':
** When Mrs. Hayfer is out of town and the boys are looking after her house. Drake finds a videotape of her as "Miss New Jersey".
--->'''Drake:''' There's a ''New'' Jersey?\\
'''Josh:''' [[SarcasmMode Yeah, they just opened it.]]
** An Animal Control officer mentions having fought in Vietnam. Drake asks, "Where's that, New Jersey?"
** Josh proves to not be much better than Drake when the latter asks why they call it "New Jersey" and he has no idea. Someone of his intelligence should know there actually is a regular "Jersey", as in the Isle of UsefulNotes/{{Jersey}} off the coast of Great Britain that's the source of the U.S. state's name.

* ''Series/TheInbetweeners'': Simon doesn't know where Swansea is. Jay thinks it's OopNorth. Neil thinks it's an ''animal''.
* In ''Series/{{Kaamelott}}'', this is true for a lot of characters besides Myth/KingArthur.
** Hervé de Rinel, after a grand tour of Britannia, concludes that the island is round (and produces a map as proof). Worse than that is when he adds, to be more convincing, "I went around it twice to be sure!"
** Séli has basically no idea of geography: she doesn't know where Aquitaine, the Pyrénées, or Burdigala[[note]]Roman name for the city of Bordeaux[[/note]] are.
** And then there's Robyn (a Myth/RobinHood parody):
--->'''Robyn:''' But wait, isn't there a common border between Britain and Byzantium?
** Perceval somehow manages to go around introducing himself as "Provençal le Gaulois" (Provençal the Gaul) instead of "Perceval le Gallois" (Percival of Wales).
--->'''Arthur:''' Doesn't even know his own name.
* Daphne's mum Gertrude, in ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', doesn't realise that Hawaii is part of America - much to Daphne's frustration. Daphne herself got mixed up between Maine and Montana in an earlier episode, asking if Montana was "the one next to New Hampshire".
* ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'': A RunningGag when starting an item about a country that's not in North America is to first show the wrong country highlighted on a map of the continent it's in and then showing the right country:
--> "Country X [country gets highlighted on a map], a place you think of so little that you didn't notice that wasn't Country X, ''this'' [other country gets highlighted] is country X".
* In ''Series/CobraKai'', this is the first solid evidence that [[spoiler:John Kreese's]] stories about enlisting in the US military after the events of the [[Film/TheKarateKid the first Karate Kid trilogy]] are made up. He talks about time spent around the world, including talking about what Mogadishu was like in the 90s, and then without missing a beat, appears to say that Mogadishu is part of Rwanda. Miguel notices and points out that Mogadishu is the capital of Somalia, an entirely different country. Later in the same episode there's a case that is partially this and partially a case of LatinLand; [[spoiler:Kreese]] refers to Miguel as "the Mexican kid" and when Johnny (who is no paragon of political correctness or global knowledge himself) corrects him and notes that Miguel is from Ecuador, [[spoiler:Kreese]] shrugs and replies by more or less saying that it's all the same anyway.
* ''Series/ServantOfThePeople'': PlayedForLaughs in Mukhin's plots. In his second episode, Foreign Minister Mukhin couldn't point out where {{UsefulNotes/Uganda}} is.
--> '''Oksana:''' Yesterday, the Lord's Resistance Army arrested him (Yoweri Museveni, Uganda's president).
--> '''Mukhin:''' You see! Even God is against the president.
* In the first episode of ''Series/TheLastOfUs2023'', Joel apparently thinks that Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, is located in the Middle East while Tommy confuses it for a country. They have to be corrected by an exasperated Sarah.
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* In the series ''Website/CollegeHumor Does the Purge: Um, We Have a Few Questions About the Purge'', Mike Trapp's character exhibits self-awareness. He keeps (yes he does ''keep'') mistakenly thinking Canada is part of the United States and blaming the shoddy American educational system for his ignorance.

Of course there are greater and lesser degrees of this trope, and it can be used in subtly different ways. Not knowing the name of the capital of the country a character is currently in almost certainly is showing how the character is genuinely stupid (and not knowing the capital of one's home country/state/province would ''definitely'' be considered stupid), while being unable to name all of the former Yugoslavian republics[[note]]Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia; Kosovo is an interesting addition, though, as only 97 of the 193 United Nations members [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_Kosovo recognise its independence]][[/note]] is unlikely to be saying a character is dumb unless its being asked by TheSmartGuy to demean a character. However this can backfire as the 'genius' character demands another name--the capital of Belarus[[note]]Minsk[[/note]]--and ends up stumping themselves.

* In the first episode of ''Series/TheLastOfUs2023'', Joel apparently thinks that Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, is located in the Middle East while Tommy confusing it for a country. They had to be corrected by an exasperated Sarah.

** Miss Naddy, real name [[YamatoNadeshiko Nadeshiko Yamato]], is an inverse OccidentalOtaku: Japanese woman who idolizes the United States of America to the point she presents herself as an American. However it doesn't take long to realize that, between her mangled English, sexy cowgirl getup, and sincere belief that "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is an American song [[note]]it's British[[/note]], she knows ''nothing'' about the U.S.

* Anime/BakuganBattleBrawlers: Julie apparently told both Billy and Dan that she thought Germany was next to Australia.

* In ''Series/CobraKai'', this is the first solid evidence that [[spoiler:John Kreese's]] stories about enlisting in the US military after the events of the [[Film/TheKarateKid the first Karate Kid trilogy]] are made up. He talks about time spent around the world, including talking about what Mogadishu was like in the 90s, and then without missing a beat, appears to say that Mogadishu is part of Rwanda. Miguel notices and points out that Mogadishu is the capital of Somalia, an entirely different country. Partially this and partially a case of LatinLand, later in the same episode [[spoiler:Kreese]] refers to Miguel as "the Mexican kid" and when Johnny (who is no paragon of political correctness or global knowledge himself) corrects him and notes that Miguel is from Ecuador, [[spoiler:Kreese]] shrugs and more or less says that it's all the same anyway.

** In one story arc, Calvin decides to secede from his family and move to Yukon, which he believes is possible to walk to in one afternoon. Regardless of where he lives in the continental United States (generally it's believed Calvin lives in Ohio), this is a patently ridiculous notion. Another arc has him try to walk to the North Pole to meet Santa, and in both cases Calvin's mom doesn't try to stop him, for the obvious reason that she knows he'll never get there.

** In one episode he visited the United Nations building, was surprised to find that Africa wasn't represented as a country, and refused to believe the guide's explanation that many African countries were represented.

'''Joey:''' Haha, you can't fool me. See [[EskimosArentReal the Netherlands is a made-up place where Peter Pan lives]].

* In one episode of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'', Drew Carey called [[AfricaIsACountry Africa a great country]]. Greg Proops responds "It's also a ''continent'' if you're a geographer!" The contestants turned it into a RunningGag for the rest of the episode.

* In one episode of ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' Shawn thinks that you can get to Europe on a bus. He even buys a bus ticket to Paris, Texas thinking it will take him to Paris, France.

* [[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wheres-iraq-young-adults-dont-know/ 60% of surveyed Americans]] couldn't find UsefulNotes/{{Iraq}} on a map [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror even though the country was actively at war there.]] This means that many of the men and women deployed there likely could not even find their location on a map.

** The game's levels are usually defined by the country they are set in. Mission 12, however, is set in Africa, as if it were a single country.