I've been playing this map game obsessively. The first time, I could barely name a quarter of the countries. I've improved markedly since then, although I still have trouble with the smaller countries near Saudi Arabia, and I sometimes swap a couple of the 'Stans.

I wish there was a map game for all of Africa, or one for the whole world.

One night after work last week, E and I visited some upstairs neighbors. One of them showed us a globe that had belonged to her parents when she was a girl. We were fascinated by how much had changed in our lifetimes: colonial Africa -- the French Sudan, the Belgian Congo, British Bechuanaland; Southeast Asia -- Burma, Siam, Netherlands East Indies; Persia; the monolithic USSR.

Historical maps from the Perry Castaneda collection at the University of Texas.