RealLifeLore

Original Title: What Lands Did Europeans Actually Discover? During the Age of Discovery, the Europeans mostly just found a bunch of places that had already inhabited by other humans for thousands of years. So what places did they actually, genuinely discover that nobody else previously had?

Pirates, rebels, insurgents and partisans across the world don't exactly have the easiest access to conventional sources of capital. So, how do they raise money then?

The Empty Diagonal is a region of France that demographers have long identified within the country as being very low in population density when compared to the rest of France and Europe. So, why?

On the 24th of February 2022, Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian Armed Forces to invade Ukraine, sparking the largest conflict seen on the European continent since World War 2. These are all of the myriad ways in which our world has rapidly changed ever since.

A group of 4 islands in the northern Pacific are hotly contested between Russia and Japan, with each claiming the islands for themselves. The issue has been going on for decades and is so serious that neither side has ever signed a formal peace treaty ending World War 2 between them over it. This video attempts to explain why.

Throughout Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there have been demands from many for NATO and the United States to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine to help the Ukrainian people and nation survive the onslaught. But that's not likely to ever happen, and here is why.

The largest man-made lake in the world is in Ghana, created after the country created a dam and flooded more than 3.5% of their available land on purpose. But why?

The island of Taiwan looms large in the minds of foreign policy experts in both Beijing and Washington. This little island is perhaps the most valuable and essential part of the world to control by the superpowers of the 21st century, and there is a severe risk of conflict over it that should not be underestimated. This is the story behind why Taiwan is so valuable to both America and China.

Spain is one of Europe's largest countries, but it's also one of Europe's most sparsely populated, with some areas that are more comparable to the northernmost fringes of Scandinavia. Why?

The Mekong River is the primary source of fresh water in Southeast Asia and the 3rd longest river on the Asian continent. And China is heavily contributing to the river's destruction.

When it was initially proposed, the California High Speed Rail was supposed to only cost $40 billion and link San Francisco to Los Angeles by 2029. However, the costs have now ballooned to nearly $100 billion, and the target completion date has been pushed out to at least 2033. What went wrong for California's construction efforts?

Oil & gas define nearly every aspect of the Russian Federation. These resources determine Russia's global strategy, and her aggressive actions in places like Ukraine, Georgia, and Chechnya. Russia is a gas station that happens to control one of the world's most powerful nations, and this is why that's a problem for everyone.

Australia is an entire continent with a lower population than Texas. Why is that the case?

When finished, the California High Speed Rail will take passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in as little as 2 hours and 40 minutes. But as it stands today, the project is years behind schedule and tens of billions of dollars over budget. What happened? For those who have noticed, yes, this is a re-upload. The older version of this video had a LOT that was wrong, and it was not something I was proud about or comfortable having up on this channel. This new version has fixed all those errors, and I'm much happier with this one. Thank you so much to everyone who left comments on the old video pointing out the many problems with it and to everyone who reached out to me directly to voice their concerns. I'm always listening to y'all and value your thoughts. Cheers :)

The city and Oblast of Kaliningrad is a separated exclave of the Russian Federation deep in the heart of the European Union. And for nearly seven centuries before it was Russian, it was German and better known as Konigsberg. How did this ancient piece of Germany become a part of Russia today?

California is a state in the center of one of the world's greatest water shortages. But why is this all happening now?

How the war in Ukraine is generating the worst global food crisis seen in the 21st century.

Greenland is the largest island in the world, but nearly all of it is hidden beneath the 2nd largest body of ice in the world. So what's hiding beneath it?

Canada and Denmark just became two countries who officially border each other by land, meaning that the distance between them is technically 0. At least, in theory.

Las Vegas is a city of more than 2.2 million people, and yet just 70 years ago it was a small town of less than 100,000. How did this rapid acceleration of growth happen, and happen within the driest desert anywhere in the world outside of the Sahara and the Middle East?

China is emerging onto the world stage as a global superpower rivaling the United States. But China has one very critical, and very dangerous weakness that this video will explain in depth.

Java is only the world's 13th largest island by landmass, and yet it is by far the world's most populous island. With more than 148 million people, there are more humans who live on Java than within the entirety of Russia. So how did this island get so populated?

Original Title: Cape Town's Catastrophic Water Problem. In 2017 and early 2018, the city of Cape Town in South Africa was at a severe risk of becoming the first major city in the world to officially run out of water. Here's how it happened, and how it just narrowly avoided happening.

Pine Gap is a major US-Australian military base partially run by the American CIA and NSA, and it's located near the geographic center of Australia deep inside the Outback. Why?

The United States is the most powerful civilization that has ever existed in human history. The source of that power lies within the unique geography and geology of the North American continent itself.

The Senkaku Islands are specs of rocks no larger than a city airport administered by Japan in the East China Sea. Despite their small size, they are at the epicenter of the greatest territorial clash between two of the world's most powerful nations: China and Japan. These are the reasons why.

Why 80% of the US Population lives roughly east of the 98th meridian of longitude

Ireland today has about 1 million fewer people than it had nearly 200 years ago. On top of that, the Irish population today should actually be around 30 million or so had the historical growth rate been more comparable to England or Wales. This video attempts to explain why this is the case.

Germany is facing what is perhaps its greatest energy crisis since the Second World War, a crisis that is largely the result of Europe's geography and Germany's own poor and misguided energy policies over the past three decades.

Original Title: Will Washington DC Become America's 51st State? Washington DC has been fighting for centuries to gain representation in the US Congress, and the fight has recently shifted towards transforming it into America's newest and 51st state. But why has this effort still not been successful? Let's find out.

In September, Azerbaijani forces attacked Armenian positions across their mutual border and occupied a small chunk of Armenia's internationally recognized territory. It won't be the last time they do.

Across the late 20th century, the Gadhafi-regime in Libya carried out the largest and the most ambitious irrigation project in human history. They built new rivers across the Sahara Desert. This is how.

How Russia' Invasion of Ukraine is leading to a worsening situation in both countries demography.

The Aral Sea used to be the 4th largest lake in the world. Today, it no longer exists because of decisions taken by the Russians decades ago. And its destruction is now pushing the nations of Central Asia into one of the 21st-century's most significant brewing conflicts.

Why is the most heavily populated part of India in the north of the country?

For more than 200 years, Finland has either been dominated by Russia or been neutral. Next year, those centuries of tradition will finally come to an end, and the geopolitical consequences will be disastrous for Russia.

How the state of Qatar became the most overpowered country in the 21st-century world.

North Sentinel Island is the world's most forbidden island, and for good reason. There is no guarantee that you will survive if you arrive there.

NATO has a fundamental hidden problem: the risk of Scotland leaving the UK as an independent nation.

It is impossible to precisely measure the exact length of the British coastline, a phenomenon known as the Coastline Paradox. Watch and learn why

Turkey has already invaded Syria on multiple occasions over the past 5 years, and they already occupy large amounts of Syrian territory. But the invasion that they're planning next has the potential to be the largest and most ambitious one yet.