STANDARDS

Common Core: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.7, RI.6-8.1, RI.6-8.7, W.6-8.4, W.6-8.7

NCSS: Culture • People, Places, and Environments • Global Connections

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CONTEST

Where’s Mapman?

Every year, Junior Scholastic’s cartographer travels to a new spot. Figure out the mystery location and draw a map of it for our contest!

Helen McMahon

Jim McMahon creates the maps in JS. Meet him in our online video.

This past summer, Jim McMahon, aka Mapman®, wandered through hilltop villages past castles. He was visiting a country on the Iberian Peninsula (Iberia, for short). Iberia forms the westernmost edge of the European continent. It comprises Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and a small part of France.

McMahon’s location is known for seafood, fado (a type of music), and its long history of great navigators. Learn more about this nation’s history, life, and people through our Can You Find Mapman®? contest. Answer the questions below, figure out the final destination, and draw a map of that country. 

The grand-prize entry will earn $250. (The teacher will win $250 too.) Twenty-five runner-up entries will each earn a Mapman® shirt. Entries must be postmarked by Feb. 14, 2024.

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

Questions

1. Mapman began his trip in Madrid. That is the capital of which country? 

2. Then he traveled to Andorra, a tiny country located in what mountain range? 

3. Next, he drove to the territory of Gibraltar. What country governs it? 

4. From Gibraltar, he flew to Porto. In which direction did he travel? 

5. Mapman’s final destination—at 39°N, 9°W—is continental Europe’s westernmost capital city. Which nation was he in?

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