You know, it’s funny the things that get stuck in your head. The other night, I was watching some show set in Ireland – all those green hills and dramatic cliffs. And they were zipping around in cars, and I got to wondering, just how big is that place anyway? Is it like, “drive for a week” big, or “see it all in a weekend” big, if you compared it to one of our US states?
My first guess, off the top of my head, was probably way off. I think I pictured something like, I dunno, maybe the size of Pennsylvania? Or perhaps smaller, like one of those New England states you can practically sneeze across. It’s easy to get the scale wrong when you’re just looking at pretty pictures on a screen, or a small spot on a world map.
So, I decided I’d actually try and get a proper handle on it. This wasn’t some big research project, mind you. More like a little puzzle I wanted to solve for myself. I started thinking about states I really know the size of. Texas? Nope, way too big, obviously. Florida? Still seemed too large. My brain was flipping through a mental atlas, trying to find a match.
It took a bit of mental gymnastics, I tell ya. I was trying to superimpose Ireland onto different states in my mind. “What about Colorado?” Nah, too square, and probably still too big. It’s not as easy as it sounds when you’re just going by feel!
Then I started zeroing in on it. I thought, “Okay, let’s get a bit more methodical.” I had a vague memory of its general shape. And after a bit more mulling it over, and yeah, alright, a quick confirmation so I wasn’t just making things up, I landed on some pretty good comparisons.
- It turns out Ireland is really, really close in size to South Carolina. Like, you could almost swap them out, land-area-wise.
- Maine is another one that’s right there in the same league. If you’ve ever driven up the coast of Maine, or explored its forests, you’re getting a good sense of the scale of Ireland.
Some folks also say Indiana is a fair comparison, though Ireland might be just a touch smaller. And it’s definitely bigger than, say, West Virginia, but not by a crazy amount.
It’s kinda wild, isn’t it? To think that a whole country, with its own long history, ancient sites, and all that, is roughly the same size as South Carolina. It changes how you picture it. Suddenly, those movie characters zipping from one county to another in Ireland makes more sense. It’s not like they’re crossing half a continent.
So, that was my little practical exercise in geographical perspective. It’s good to ground those far-off places with something familiar. Now, when I see Ireland on the news or in a film, I’ve got a much better feel for its actual, honest-to-goodness size. No more guessing wildly! It’s about as big as Maine. Simple as that, once you get down to it.