Bill Rahko

''Geography Now'' (also stylized as ''Geography Now!'') is an American educational YouTube channel and web series created and hosted by Paul Barbato. It profiled UN-recognized countries in the world in alphabetical order, a series which finished in October 2024. It now covers additional topics related to physical and political geography. The channel was started in August 2014, and as of May 2025, it has over 3.7 million subscribers and 577 million views.

Team

Main hosts, co-hosts, and crews

* Paul Barbato sometimes nicknamed Barby or Barbs – creator and host.
**Barbato was born in 1987 in Minnesota to Korean immigrant parents. His father was born in Gyeonggi-do and his mother was born in Daegu. Barbato describes his parents as Hapas - half Korean and half white. Barbato also has French, Irish, and Italian ancestry; the latter is where his surname originates. Barbato grew up on the Near North Side of Chicago and currently resides in Los Angeles. Barbato started ''Geography Now!'' because he felt there were no channels specifically aimed at profiling every country, prompting him to create one himself. Barbato has emphasized the importance of geography education and criticized its scarcity in American curricula. As of October 2024, the conclusion of the series, he has visited 99 countries.
* Keith Everett – Music segment
* Hannah Bamberg, also known as "Random Hannah" – Culture segment
* Noah Gildermaster – Food segment
* Kaleb Seaton, formerly known as "Gary Harlow" (a "knockoff Steve Irwin") – Wildlife segment
* Arthur "Art" Napiontek – Sports segment
* Bill Rahko – Theme music composer
* Vincent Kierkels – Graphic designer/animator
* Peadar Donnelly – Graphic designer/animator
* Jared Stevenson – Graphic designer/animator
* Jason King – Graphic designer (formerly)
* Ken O'Donnell – Animator (formerly)

If the specified co-host does not appear for their segment, it will either be covered by Barbato or filled in by another crew member of ''Geography Now!''.

Whenever possible, the channel also features guest contributors from the country being profiled. For example, Kierkels appeared in the Netherlands episode, Donnelly in the Ireland episode, and O'Donnell in the Philippines episode. Fellow internet personality Jay Foreman co-hosted the United Kingdom episode, while Barbato's mother co-hosted the South Korea episode.

Some episodes, especially ones with native co-hosts, were filmed in a makeshift studio inside the country. The Zimbabwe episode is the only one not filmed in a studio, instead taking place in the Zimbabwean countryside.

Channel

''Geography Now!''

The channel series began on October 15, 2014, with the country of Afghanistan and concluded on October 15, 2024, with the country of Zimbabwe. The member states of the United Nations were covered in alphabetical order, with a few exceptions, such as when the country formerly named Swaziland changed its name to Eswatini after the letter E had already been passed. Another exception was the North Macedonia episode, which was released under F, because at the time, the UN listed its name as "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" to avoid controversy with Greek viewers, who consider the name "Macedonia" to be exclusively Greek. English names were also used for country titles; for example, the episode is titled "Ivory Coast" rather than "Côte d'Ivoire." Barbato has stated that he maintains a fast pace in his videos while incorporating visual graphics to enhance accessibility.

* The Flag Dissection segment examined the meaning and symbolism behind each country's flag. After signing with Studio 71, this segment was moved to a separate video known as Flag/Fan Fridays, later changed to Flag/Fan Days starting with the Cuba episode, though it was brought back in the Zimbabwe episode. These segments included the opening of mail and packages sent by fans. In the current format, flag segments are separated into short-format videos, with fan mail openings held in separate live streams.

* Political Geography provided a closer look at each country's borders, enclave and exclaves, territorial disputes and anomalies, administrative divisions, overseas territories, notable locations, and more.

* Physical Geography explored each country's land makeup, demarcations, landscape, arable land, climate, biodiversity, and food.

* Demographics covered each country’s population, plug type, driving side, people, diversity, traditions, culture, government, notable individuals, and a brief history (if not already discussed in a previous segment).

* Friend Zone analyzed the country's positive or negative relationships with other countries.

* Conclusion wrapped up each episode into a 1-2 minute segment.

Over the course of the channel's history, the duration of the episodes increased, with more topics and information included in each episode. While early episodes typically lasted 7-10 minutes, later episodes usually ran 30-40 minutes. As of October 15, 2024, the Zimbabwe episode is the newest and final episode covering a UN-listed country. The episode on the United States of America lasted 65 minutes, making it the longest episode by far.

A "new chapter" was announced at the end of the Zimbabwe episode.

Flag/Fan Days

Flag/Fan Days, previously known as Flag/Fan Friday, were companion videos to the main episodes. In these videos, a country's flag and coat of arms are explained. Barbato also sometimes uses this opportunity to discuss topics he did not cover in the original video or to correct and clarify details. Afterward, he calls crew members and opens fan mail.

There is a recurring animation in most episodes of Flag/Fan Days where the red in a country's flag symbolizes the "''blood of those who fight for their freedom''", which has since become a running gag whenever the red on a country's flag is said to represent the blood of those who fought for the country in the past.

Following the release of the Venezuela–Zambia episodes, Paul Barbato decided to turn four Flag/Fan Day videos into YouTube Shorts due to the long time it took to research, film, and produce the videos.

''Geography Now!'' episodes

The countries discussed in each episode follow the United Nations alphabetical list of members and go through them in the respective order.

Episodes

Other content

Filler week videos occurred when the team was in the process of researching and creating scripts for upcoming episodes. Topics discussed in these videos included states or subregions of countries, current or cultural events, physical geography, specific ethnic groups, and infrastructure innovations.

Geography Go is the channel's travel vlog series. Countries visited include Qatar, Finland, Estonia, Greenland, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Indonesia, Singapore, and many more. Paul Barbato also later started posting YouTube Shorts on his channel about his travels to other countries like Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Croatia, the Central African Republic, Togo, and many others.

A Geograbee is the geography equivalent of a spelling bee, where participants are tested on geography. So far, Barbato has hosted these events in Hargeisa in Somaliland, Somalia, and Alaska. Other educational content is also uploaded.

For April Fools' Day, ''Geography Now!'' uploaded videos profiling fictional countries created by Barbato (with the exception of the 2016 and 2017 videos). These included:

* Bandiaterra (2015), a Danish-speaking island nation in the Indian Ocean.
* Limberwisk (2018), a Nordic country whose language consists entirely of whispers.
* Patch Amberdash / Datcsh (2019), a confederation of islands spread across three continents.
* Qitzikwaka (2020), a former Russian colony situated underground in the Sahara.
* Sovonthak (2021), a country situated on eight shallow reefs with a legally-recognized and taxed bartering system.
* Volanca (2022), a country with no territory, founded by UN interpreters, with citizens' residences serving as legal lodging.
* Ululiona-Linulu (2023), a sovereign Native American country created as a buffer between Mexico and the United States after the Mexican–American War.
* Geolandia (2024), a federation comprising all previous April Fools' countries. Citizenship is acquired by subscribing to Geography Now and purchasing its merchandise.

Reception

''Geography Now!'' generally receives positive feedback from newspapers and magazines in the countries covered, such as ''Japan Today'', ''Télérama'', Dutch ''Metro'', RTL, ''Nezavisne Novine'', ''Life in Norway'', ''Lovin Malta'', and ''Zoznam''. It has also received endorsements from educators and travel writers. The channel has appeared on several lists of recommended educational YouTube channels, including one by the Van Andel Institute. A few criticisms typically relate to tone and pronunciation, particularly in earlier episodes.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website

2014 web series debuts
2010s YouTube series
2024 web series endings
2020s YouTube series
American non-fiction web series
Documentary web series
Education-related YouTube channels
Works about geography
YouTube channels launched in 2014
YouTube original programming