Mapping Out the Confusion Over Some People, Places

Kenneth Davis says he wrote his best-selling “Don’t Know Much About Geography” (Morrow, $23) for adults who need to recharge the batteries of their map lights. In it, for instance, he tackles such geographic brainteasers as:

* What’s the difference between an ocean and a sea? “Four oceans, many more seas,” reasons Davis, explaining that seas refer to smaller divisions of oceans or to saltwater bodies partially enclosed by land. “But we use the words ocean and sea interchangeably,” he says. “We eat seafood that comes from the ocean. We go to the seashore and rent ocean-front houses. This is typical of our confusion over geographic terminology.”

* Was Cleopatra black? “For most Americans, when you say ‘Cleopatra,’ their image is Elizabeth Taylor with heavy eye shadow,” he says, adding that now a generation of Americans think all ancient Egyptians were black.

But geography and history dictate that Cleopatra “most certainly was not black,” Davis concludes in the book. She ruled as queen of Egypt from approximately 51-30 BC, and was “a member of the Ptolemaic family . . . descended from the Greek dynasty installed by Alexander the Great’s generals after they conquered Egypt.”

* What’s so bad about the Badlands? “You’ve heard of those places that are nice to visit but you wouldn’t want to live there?” jokes Davis. The treacherous landscape and violent thunderstorms of the North Dakota territory earned a bad name early on by the Sioux, who called it mako sica, literally bad land.