Donald Trump was at the centre of another geographical blunder on Tuesday as he attended the UN General Assembly in New York City. While meeting with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham for the first time, the President insisted that "England," "Britain," and the "United Kingdom" can be used interchangeably – before voicing his bewilderment over the terminology, declaring that the nation has "more names than any other place."
The 80-year-old appears to have a long track record of struggles regarding the world map, repeatedly facing mockery for his geographical gaffes. During his presidency, Trump famously claimed to have met with the "President of the Virgin Islands" – forgetting he held that title himself as US leader. On another occasion, he praised the fictional African country "Nambia" in a speech to African leaders. He also suggested building a border wall in landlocked Colorado and once referred to Belgium as a "beautiful city," demonstrating an enduring habit of redefining global cartography on the fly.
United Kingdom and Iran-Qatar mix-ups
Throughout his presidency, Trump has travelled to the United Kingdom on five occasions, as well as Ireland twice. Yet, he made no reference to Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales during his peculiar discussion about the UK and appeared to confuse them with England.
Trump slipped up at the G7 summit in France as he made an impossible geographical claim. Discussing Qatar, he said: "They are the closest to Iran physically, so, with other countries, I noticed that they had to travel about 45 minutes to get there. With you, you could walk right across the border, so you are in a more dangerous position."
Lake Ontario, Greenland and Iceland
In August, Trump signed an executive order directing the federal government to rename Lake Ontario to 'Lake America'. However, it made no geographical sense as the lake is an international shared body of water bordered by both the United States and Canada, with a large majority of its northern shoreline and waters belonging to Canada.
While giving a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump appeared to repeatedly confuse Greenland and Iceland. "They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you," he said to reporters. "I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland's already cost us a lot of money."
Armenia, Albania, DR Congo and Colorado
While speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict last year, the President took credit for easing tensions between Azerbaijan and Albania – completely mixing up the Balkan nation of Albania with Armenia. France's President Emmanuel Macron, Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama, and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev couldn't help but laugh.
Although he tried to strike a trade deal with Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi last year, Trump appears to know little about the African nation. "Many people come from the Congo," he said. "I don’t know what that is."
During a speech in Pennsylvania, Trump boasted to his supporters that his administration was building a "beautiful" border wall in Colorado – a state that is famously landlocked and several hundred miles north of Mexico.
Nepal, Bhutan, Korea, Namibia and Belgium
Trump reportedly didn't realise Nepal and Bhutan were independent countries, thinking they were part of India. And he appeared to pronounce Nepal as 'nipple' and Bhutan as 'button' during a briefing.
2018 saw Trump tell journalists that North Korea had called him to say, 'We would like to talk.' In reality, however, he had just had a conversation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
While addressing African leaders at the United Nations to praise their healthcare systems, Trump twice referenced a non-existent country called "Nambia." The White House later clarified he meant Namibia, but not soon enough to avoid the President being mercilessly mocked over the mistake.
Trump told crowds at a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia: "Belgium is a beautiful city". It's believed the President actually meant the capital city, Brussels, which was hosting the NATO meeting at the time.
