What Are The 7 MEGAREGIONS Of Europe?

Which other country or continent's Megalopolises should I make a video on next?
▶ In this video, I list and attempt to explain Europe's Megalopolises. Exploring the concept of interconnected metropolitan areas known as megaregions. With a total of seven identified megaregions, including the renowned Blue Banana and Golden Banana, these areas are home to a significant portion of Europe's population and economic activity. From that densely populated Blue Banana stretching across Western Europe to the Mediterranean Sun Belt (or Golden Banana), the Green 'Central Europe' Banana which connects the Baltic to the Adriatic Sea, the questionable "Orange Banana" of the Black Sea, the Nordic String which connects Northern Germany, Denmkar, and Southern Sweden & Norway, the Atlantic Axis of Portugal and Galicia, to the smaller yet impactful Gulf of Finland, each megaregion boasts its own unique characteristics and contributing factors to its population density.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
00:22 Again, What's A Megalopolis?
00:46 Which Are Europe's Megalopolises?
01:43 The Blue Banana (Liverpool-Milan Axis)
03:52 The Golden Banana (Mediterranean Sun Belt)
05:14 The Green Banana (Pickle / Central European Megaregion)
06:39 The Orange Banana (Black Sea Coast)
07:41 The Scandinavian String
09:03 The Atlantic Axis (Portugal & Galicia)
09:46 The Gulf Of Finland
10:41 Summary
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[@General.Knowledge]

*Which other megaregions should I cover next? China or India?*

[@NamesGryphon]

India would be neat

[@ghost21501]

I feel like China and Southeast Asia are mostly unknown in the West. Would be cool to see.

[@muhammadhamzazafar6903]

you can cover both india and the northeast Pakistan region of Punjab as well as maybe some areas of Bangladesh such as Dhaka

[@biggussdickuss5184]

China

[@baileyfellers5465]

Please do both! I love learning more about how the world is becoming more interconnected through urban development. Although I think China would be more interesting to start off with

[@ilFrancotti]

If all roads lead to Rome, at least 3 Megaregions lead to Italy.

[@togerboy5396]

I was just going to comment about this, it’s so cool to see how northern Italy is the crossroads of the three most important megaregions. It’s probably because of infrastructure out of Italy during the Roman Empire and HRE.

[@miliba]

@@togerboy5396 If you play on the Mediterranean map of Civ 6 and spawn on Italy, you'll wanna secure Northern Italy asap

[@publicminx]

they actually lead to Northern Italy to be exact. The gravitation moved within Italy already at Rome time from Rome to cities like Ravenna, later under the Germanic Frankish Empire it became further empowered and after the split of the Frankish Empire it was kind of a (with huge autonomy) part of the Holy Roman Empire which coninued the empowerment of quasi independent cities who created maritime trade empires which were connected (via land and rivers like the Rhein/Rhine throughout Germany) with the other maritime trade empire (the Hanseatic league with Luebeck/Germany as de facto capital) which made Northern Italy as kind of a hub to other more southern regions and on the other side with the other side of the Holy Roman Empire - the Green Banana. And Germany is basically in the dominant center in Europe, as being part or between most Mega regions (Blue Banana, Green Banana, the Norrdinc String, Gulf of Finnland) ...

[@Bayard1503]

Or leave from Italy...

[@rspirit]

All roads lead to Milan!

[@heh9392]

As someone who lives near Helsinki, the reality is that Finns never have been traveling to St Petersburg and prefer a 100 times more Tallinn and Stockholm. Since Estonias independence our traveling has mainly only been there and no Finns really ever have been to Russia, eventhough St Petersburg area has more people than Finland as a whole.

[@BostonElton]

as someone who lives in Stockholm i prefer Helsinki over like every other city

[@General.Knowledge]

Thanks for the inside view! It does seem odd to include Saint Petersburg along with Helsinki and Talinn. From a geographic point of view, sure - they're all in the Gulf of Finland, but as a continuous urban area it doesn't make much sense.

[@xaverlustig3581]

In an ideal world, St Petersburg and Helsinki would be in close contact though.

[@heh9392]

@@General.Knowledge Yea alot and alot of forest in between the cities of the shoreline and only Helsinki and St Petersburg are the only million person cities on the gulf.

[@coyotelong4349]

The political divide between dictatorial Soviet Union/Putinist Russia and freedom-loving Finland over the decades has had a lot to do with that, no doubt

[@Ulti47]

Do more megareigon and belt videos, they are very interesting

[@General.Knowledge]

I agree! Will do :)

[@nettcologne9186]

@@General.Knowledge... and don't forget the "German belt" when discussing the belts in the USA. thx

[@gregoryturk1275]

@@General.Knowledgedon’t forget the taiheiyo belt

[@gregoryturk1275]

Japan

[@CrusaderBooga]

Keep cooking bro

[@General.Knowledge]

👨‍🍳

[@Eroscty]

​​@General.Knowledge the Atlantic axis should be called the Atlantic Iberia

[@chandrasarmah8255]

And you wash the dishes 😉🍽️

[@interycreeper1152]

​@@chandrasarmah8255 We'll worry about the dishes. He worries about cooking.

[@jonathan9431]

​@@General.KnowledgeGirona is pronounced like G in English, not Jirona, its a Catalan City and in Catalan the g is pronunced like in English

[@j.m.d.a1496]

Do one for Asian Megalopolis like the Pearl River Delta or the Taiheiyo Belt

[@sir_dreadlord_on_blitz7042]

Yes!

[@SlapStyleAnims]

Yeah!

[@suryakumarsharna3074]

Defo

[@General.Knowledge]

Yes! On my list

[@crazydog1750]

The Pearl River Delta is insane to looks at metrics for.

[@staffan-]

Regarding the Scandinavian string, it is worth mentioning that it is centered around the narrow inlet to the Baltic Sea. Historically, this area was of great importance for controlling the regional trade routes. The German part of this region was the core of the medieval Hanseatic League, the Danish and south Swedish part controls the actual choke point, and Gothenburg was the centre for all Atlantic trade from Sweden. I believe this is why Stockholm is left out, it has come about in a different context than the rest of the region.

[@General.Knowledge]

Very interesting! Great point. Just as you mentioned the core of the Hanseatic League, it would be interesting to see how far back each of these urban concentrations goes, and what the initial cause for that concentration to begin was.

[@Mischnikvideos]

@@General.Knowledge ...and St. Petersburg delivered the goods from Siberia. The two areas belong together.

[@boek2777]

I believe that the climate and topography are more important. I don't know much about Germany but Denmark and southern Sweden are without resources that can be used in heavy industry (coal, iron ore, Uranium..) BUT have some of the most fertile land in existence (the area around Eslöv is the most fertile area in the world). I know this because I'm old enough to remember the discussions in the 1980's, when Eslöv started growing into that land. When the Öresundsbridge (some Swenglish;) was planned, it was seen as a great benefit to the local food industry. Denmark produce more than three times the food that is consumed in the country while the Swedish climate makes it so that it's a wast of money to produce food in the northern parts of the country. The exceptions are foodstuffs that like cold (reindeer meat and some berries) that can be sold for a price that nobody would pay unless it was so hard and expensive to get. Some discussions between Denmark and Sweden happened. Sweden opposed The Danish suggestion of the name 'Greater Copenhagen' but did finely agree that the Swedish municipalities of Malmö and Helsingborg should be included in that term. This hence made the three harbors, three food producing centers and three information centers join forces under one slogan.

[@Mischnikvideos]

@@boek2777 In return, the Danes receive wood from Sweden. What is arable land for the Danes is forests for the Swedes. Most Swedes live in the south and climatically they are in the same region. Today, agriculture is only a small part of the economy in both countries. Other sectors of the economy are more important and can generate the money that others want for food. Buying is then cheaper than making it yourself.

[@MrMakabar]

The German part also sits at the choke point. Not the natural one, but thanks to a number of canals it is possible to avoid the Danish straits, by going through Germany. Currently the most important of these connections is the Kiel Canal, which connects Kiel with the end of the Elbe. Before that other canals have been built in the region going back to the first summit-level canal in Europe the Stecknitz Canal, which made Lübeck such an important city in the region. So in a way the northern German cities also sit on the Baltic - North Sea choke point.

[@norbertkrafcsik3628]

"Some people call it the pickle too, apparently." Am I the only one who bursted out laughing? 😂

[@QuahogFlashback]

yes

[@aldrichdomingo7240]

yeah. 😅

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

yeah its bit of a pickle.

[@dns9995]

because they love pickled stuff in that region? :D ever had pickled cheese?

[@YMandarin]

We should definitely differentiate between megaregions and megalopolises. I'd call the blue banana (including Paris) a megaregion with a few megalopolises inside it: greater London, greater Paris, Rheinland, Amsterdam/Rotterdam, Milano The green belt is definitely no megalopolis, though one could call Vienna-Bratislava such.

[@BostonElton]

i definitely agree

[@General.Knowledge]

Agreed!

[@mackycabangon8945]

Yeah I felt the same way. For the Blue Banana the English Channel and Alps seperate England and Northern Italy respectively and it's weird to see them in the same megalopolis as Netherlands and western Germany for that reason, especially compared to American megalopolises which are divided by mountains (like the Appalachians for the Northeast Megalopolis)

[@Questraptor]

​@@mackycabangon8945 well, it is easier to cross the alps now I think to connect Northern Italy, and there is also the chunnel between England and France making them more connected, also the english channel isn't that wide

[@jfrancobelge]

The metropolitan area of Paris, and its 11 million inhabitants are actually south of the Blue Banana presented here.

[@loskri7]

I'm originally from Saint-Petersburg and I can confirm the ties were pretty strong between the city and the neighbouring countries before covid and war. It was cheaper, easier and quicker for us to go to Tallinn or Helsinki for a day or a weekend, rather than to Moscow. In summer ferries were running daily between the cities, in addition to trains, buses and planes. EU cities offered plane tickets for €9 to anywhere in Europe, which were not avaiable in Russia, so a number of buses would bring a bunch of people straight to a particular airport. Roughly 8000 people were disembarking in SPb daily from cruise ships, also with stops at Helsinki and Tallinn. In Finland the area next to the border crossings was packed with all kinds of shops and malls, where one could buy everything from a match to a sofa and thousands or people from Russia were doing there weekly shopping there due to price value and better quality of goods. Not to mention there are thousands of people whose relatives have lived for years in either of the neighbouring countries and they've used to travel constantly between the cities for family reunions, which is now a pain to do. I wish peace and friendship ties for everyone

[@askarufus7939]

The green banana has its ancient roots in Roman route to collect amber from the coast of the Baltic sea. The space between Sudets and Carpathian mountains on Polish/Czech border is called the "Moravian Gate" and has been the place that has seen multiple archaelogical cultures wander there for thousands years back.

[@serebii666]

Yep" The so called "Amber Road". It actually predates the Romans by a millennia as well. It dates from at least the 16th century BC, where amber was moved from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean area (e.g. the breast ornament of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen (c. 1333-1324 bce) contains large Baltic amber beads). It was one of the main Bronze age trade routes over continental Europe.

[@muhammadhamzazafar6903]

6:50 according to the map, it actually contains 5 countries. the fifth being moldova

[@strot9493]

the "blue banana" is made principaly by the Rhin (Rein/Rijn) river ! You didn't mentionned it. and then for the rest. This is general knowledge from my country ^^

[@Pietervandebuurt]

I was also surprised he didn't mention the Rhine river. Anyone with some basic understanding of Western Europe knows the Rhine has been really important for the development of Western Europe.

[@General.Knowledge]

That's true! A pretty big miss from my end, sorry!

[@nekhumonta]

Only a small part of it though. Just the Netherlands and Germany

[@publicminx]

German: Rhein River

[@D4BASCHT]

It’s kinda Rhine-Po.

[@nicocorbo4153]

outstanding video. glad to hear the portugal video went well :)

[@crazydog1750]

Yes! Love the Megalopolis videos. They're truly fascinating.

[@General.Knowledge]

Thanks!

[@crazydog1750]

@@General.Knowledge Also, I'd love to see you do a video about bicoastal countries, and how there are some countries that are tricoastal or quadricoastal (Spain is six-coasted). The ones I can think of are: Bicoastal: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Angola, Senegal, Egypt, Croatia, Turkiye, Germany, Malaysia (peninsula portion), Ukraine (when Crimea is considered Russian), UAE, Israel, Thailand, North Korea, Oman, Indonesia (on the island of Timor), Brunei, and Timor Leste. Tricoastal: Canada (because of Point Roberts), France (because of Monaco), and Malaysia (Borneo portion). Quadricoastal: United States, Russia (when Crimea is considered Ukrainian), and Morocco. Pentacoastal: Russia (when Crimea is considered Russian) Sexcoastal: Spain (Portugal and Gibraltar interrupt its main coast, and then it has several exclaves on the Moroccan coast and since technically Africa and Europe are in the same landmass it counts). I’m probably forgetting some. But, making up words like “pentacoastal” was fun, and this kind of video seems like something you'd make. It's an idea I've had floating around in my head for a long time but just never did it. Feel free to disregard this comment altogether, lol.

[@Kerguelen.Mapping]

Keep the great work! I’ve been watching you since 2019!

[@stipe3124]

Wait you did not include Rijeka, Koper and Trieste as important cities in Green Banana? Those are literaly closest ports to central Europe and are very important transport hubs

[@qzg7857]

He also didnt include biggest industrial region in Green banana Silesia. Which by itself is a megalopolis.

[@miryamshamar2356]

I enjoy your educational videos that I would not otherwise know about (topics). I love how crisply and clearly you speak

[@lategodzilla]

been watching you since 50k, im proud of you having 800k now but you deserve way more. good luck 🎉

[@mariajoaoferrazdeabreu150]

Great video as always.

[@KolobMogun]

You helped me immensely with a worldbuilding hobby project with this one. Thank you. Btw I really like the art style of your videos

[@yingyangmapper5399]

Tu és o GOAT meu, a representar Portugal no KZbin internacional, muitos parabéns e votos de sucesso

[@Jobor2]

The string map on the thumbnail is super odd.. I live in an area that was shown on the thumbnail map between Gothenburg and Stockholm and we are not much connected to those cities except by rail. Roads out here arent good yet we're in a "megalopis" ? I think the one where you just show the west coast of Sweden is much more accurate and then if you want to connect Stockholm to it you should map out the E4 highway because the E20 sucks where I live. Great video! ^^

[@andrijahreljanovic2078]

I liked your video. As always

[@luigibenni3449]

Very good! As usual... 😉

[@leafarlopes7502]

ganda video como smp mano, like the video guys

[@General.Knowledge]

Obrigado!

[@escmadeira]

Great video

[@mariusbalan9]

I love your content!!!!!!!😍

[@Saulman1984]

Good shit brother

[@Toby_Youtube978]

You sound sick bro. It is ok to not upload when sick, but I love the videos anyway.

[@Lisbonese]

Instead of “Atlantic Axis” it would make more sense for it to be called “Atlantic Access”

[@El_Garza]

Good stuff

[@faustocastelhano7254]

Ja gostei do video acerca do atlantic axis e adorei este!

[@robertcourtemanche9185]

The Blue Banana is the former US/NATO anti-Soviet military area. I lived in Ulm, Stuttgart and Zweibrucken (near Kaiserslautern) in the 70s and 80s. Great place to live.

[@xaverlustig3581]

NATO is much larger than the blue banana.

[@MoempfLP]

No, the blue banana has been existing for centuries.

[@ibnenkigalileo9256]

NATO? Yurk

[@cparle87]

It really is fascinating. You look at a country or region and your gut reaction is the people are spread across it evenly, but it's really further from the truth.

[@NamesGryphon]

Yeah! US belt video would be awesome

[@General.Knowledge]

Nice! It's on my list

[@shivjogdand3968]

nice video . Also make a video on Megaregions of India

[@elijahstevenson5695]

The pearl river delta in china with cities like guangzhou, shenzen, and hong kong, ect is in my opinion the closest to being a true megalopolis where all the cities urban areas touch without any real gaps in between. And since its all in one country theres no border between the cities except between hong kong, macau and mainland china but its really easy to travel between.

[@Rilows]

Great vid

[@viktorbagic5516]

You forgot to mention that the green banana is basically the successor of the ancient Amber road. But besides that, good video 👍

[@carlomontecarlo7881]

I live in the North of Italy, I think we're blessed with easy access to so many different languages & cultures (Latin, Germanic, Slavic branches + the Mediterranean Sea). No city in Europe has easy access to the Alps, the sea, the lakes, the plains, and vineyards like Milan does. There's lots of culture (Bologna, the oldest university; Padua and its university, where Elena Cornaro Piscopia became the woman in the world to be awarded a PhD, in 1678; Venice, Turin, Verona), industry and infrastructure, whether you want to travel by car (Como laghi is the oldest highway ever built), train, plane, cruise or boats. All of this with the Italian lifestyle/gastronomy/wines/weather. We are really, really lucky to live here.

[@Misterjingle]

I would say that Torino, Venezia, Verona in Italy and Nice, Marseille, Lyon in France have also the same access to the Alps, the sea, vineyards, lakes etc. Barcelona and its region have also it all, with the Pyrenees instead of the Alps.

[@carlomontecarlo7881]

@Misterjingle Lyon is landlocked and further away from the sea, though... Marseille doesn't have a thriving economy, and the other cities are small compared to Milan, minus Barcelona (which doesn't have easy access to the lakes, or easy international connections by road / railway like Milan does)

[@Misterjingle]

@@carlomontecarlo7881 Well, Lyon is not that landlocked, just 1h30 by train to the med. 2h from Paris. Marseille doesn’t have the economy of Milan, but Milan doesn’t have the sun of Marseille :) And Barcelona have lakes in the Pyrenees. Not as big as Lake como but still. I’m just saying that there are several nice places in Europe. I know how Italians need like Americans to be the best at everything, I just like nuances :)

[@carlomontecarlo7881]

@Misterjingle Well, you're projecting - I didn't say Milan or the North of Italy are the best, I said we're really lucky, which is different. So your anti-Italian bias is uncalled for. Lyon is 2 hrs away by train from Marseille (the Med vs 50 mins for the Milan-Genoa corridor, which is nearing completion), and - unlike Milan - both cities are not ranked as Alpha cities by GAwK or the EIU (even Barcelona isn't, to be fair). As for Barcelona, the Pyrenees are 350 km away from the city vs. Milan being 185 km away from the Alps. I also would like to know which lakes in the Pyrenees are as big as Lake Garda, Lake Como, Lake Maggiore. Lastly, you sure have to drive more to reach Central-Eastern Europe from Lyon/Marseille/Barcelona than Milan. So I stand by my comment ;)

[@Misterjingle]

@@carlomontecarlo7881 « anti-Italian » bro, please, calm down… It’s like I hurt your ego ! I love all my European fellows. But you have to admit sometimes it’s hard to talk with Italians, it’s like Americans or Turks, too much pride involved. However, you said « no place like Milan » which means = we are the best. It’s just semantic. I feel like you need to convince yourself. I just wanted to make some nuances. Been to Milan, It was ok but far from being the best place to work/live. I’d rather chose Roma, Barcelona or the south of France. Better quality of life with everything you mentioned : weather, food, slow living, sea, mountains, etc etc.

[@Mischnikvideos]

The basis of the blue banana is hard coal, which stretches from England to Germany. This was the basis for the large industrial centers with heavy industry. In addition, the Rhine is the largest transport/trade route in Europe.

[@Kovyc]

Love you man.

[@paulojorge3704]

Love your channel. Have you done a video on the battle of Aljubarrota? Saudacoes Lusitanas.

[@General.Knowledge]

Not yet! I haven't really done videos dedicated to many specific historical events. Especially since there's so many other channels that focus on individual battles and do a terrific job. It's a good idea, though!

[@robertab929]

Tasty topic :)

[@ghost21501]

Europe has 746.4 million people.

[@o_s-24]

He probably said the eu population

[@Margot4454]

@@o_s-24 sooo .... excluding UK

[@o_s-24]

@@Margot4454 yes, and also, russia and ukraine. And some smaller countries too

[@General.Knowledge]

Correct! My mistake, I went for the EU population.

[@schs1977]

Population of the Americans (North, Central, and South America) is 1.06 billion. China and India, as a comparison, are both over 1 billion each but in a more concise area.

[@femboyskeleton9150]

did you use disco elysium music around the 5 minute mark or what is that? it sounds very familiar

[@Forlfir]

Muito bons os teus videos

[@General.Knowledge]

Obrigado!

[@seanchadwick9036]

Parts of the Czech Republic, Austria, and all of Liechtenstein, are part of the blue banana as well. This includes the Austrian city of Innsbruck. Due to urbanization, the Blue Banana has become larger in size, branching outwards in a star shape. Despite this, the Blue Banana still remains the core of the conurbation. Although the Blue Banana may not have the same formation it had decades ago, it still holds Europe’s largest gathering of people, industry, money, and economic power.

[@Apollorion]

That's what you get when connecting the Rhine to the Thames.

[@FTN_Ale]

@@Apollorion The Thames to the Po with the Rhine in between*

[@TheNielsenTheArthur]

When you was talking about The Green Banana, you forgot mention, that in this area is located so-called Silesian Metropolis (with its main city, Katowice), which is the biggest metropolis in Central Europe

[@lavillenouvelle]

The blue and gold bananas are also connectes by the Rhone Valley, linking Zurich to Montpellier, in a long continuous megalopolis. And the golden banana should continue south into italy, at least until Naples.

[@ErixSamson]

Do you have a link to the "official" definitions of bananas regions?

[@Rijowhi]

Nottingham?! Robin Hood and all that but come on Birmingham as the second largest City should have been included in the list… Interesting video though.👍🏻

[@BostonElton]

thats probably what he meant lol

[@rubbishrabble]

The point is to name both the main city and suburb. Zurich with the suburb of Basel. Munich with suburban Nuremberg. Nottingham is obviously the midlands. It actually reinforces the premise of the blue banana for middle class or blue collar. That may be why it went up to Northern England & Wales as a counter to Thatcher by the French.

[@petrakristalova6089]

9:11 the fact that we are referencing touchy topics in that exact time makes it even more touchy😅

[@chandraathithan11]

Super

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

🌎👍❤ We ❤ this channel.

[@trystandavies7249]

Not sure if you could include areas of post-industrial decline in England and Wales - now replaced by London, Birmingham and Manchester for service industry.

[@General.Knowledge]

Some must have transitioned while remaining relevant though, no? I had the idea Manchester was previously an industrial secondary sector hub too.

[@trystandavies7249]

@@General.Knowledge True - and other areas are slowly catching up (if you want to be optimistic!)

[@JimmyJr630]

@@trystandavies7249London seems to be in another world nowadays. The focus on the city from the government is honestly ridiculous. This might seem like a strange idea but I was thinking that since England doesn’t have its own capital within the Uk (Wales has Cardiff etc) I was thinking what if a new English Capital was set up in the middle of the country separate from the UK government like all the other capitals and away from London. This would force the English government to focus more on the north and midlands if the new capital was perhaps around derby/sheffield/nottingham in the centre of the country.

[@trystandavies7249]

@@JimmyJr630 Sounds like a good idea - definitely needs to be a focus away from London-Birmingham-Manchester even for their own sake and take the pressure off them. Should have built better infrastructure to the SW, NE and E of England, Wales and Scotland than waste all that money on HS2.

[@zombi3lif3]

Thought I lived outside a megaregion, but then the general pull me back in, with an addition

[@Ah0jtadyHanka]

Awesome. Now I can say I live in the ✨pickle ✨

[@trentr9762]

Makes sense to have England included as there is a frequent transit links between the island and the continent, so it's not all that separated, only issue I could see in its classification is the lack of freedom of movement

[@lubiezniczek666]

I can add a piece of an argument to the center of "green banana" - it encompasses a large portion of the historic Silesia region that is (still) rich in coal and ores, and used to be heavily industrialized. Thus, it also contains the Upper-Silesian Metropolitan Area formed of many post-industrial cities around Katowice, Poland. I live here and (though I haven't gained much international perspective) in the context of Poland, the metropolitan area is still much more densly populated than other regions of the country (however still much less than Cracow or Warsaw).

[@rustix3]

1:33 Is the orange banana the one painted purple on the shores of the Black Sea?

[@rohitupadhya6449]

You can do this for a lot of the larger countries. India, China, US, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, etc... could be an entire series....

[@rafaelportella2548]

Agreed!

[@Just_another_Euro_dude]

There's interesting conurbation here in central Montenegro and in the broader basin of the lake Skadar which is the biggest lake of the southeastern Europe. The capital of Montenegro, Podgorica is connected with Danilovgrad, Nikšić and with coastal port city of Bar in Montenegro, in zetska-bjelopavlićka plain and in Albania it's all further connected with city of Skadar in the same plain, coastal big city of Albania Duresh (Drač) and then with the Albanian capital Tirana. It's one of the most urban parts of southeastern Europe and visible from the space at night sky as a VERY long conurbation. It got some 400k people in Montenegro and 1,2 million in Albania. Aglomeration of 1,6 million people in total. Which is amazing for two smaller countries to achieve.

[@corne1717]

The blue banana is best explained by the Rhine river, which gives easy access to the North-Sea with all its trade. Why do you think Londen is placed in South East England? Because that is the closest region in England to the Rhine Delta in the Netherlands. It all has to do with trade.

[@lmwlmw4468]

Damn, nice to see a Portuguese doing such a work. Excelente trabalho.

[@parmentier7457]

Do economic regions: Ruhr, Randstad, Flemish diamant, etc.

[@roxyrambo2944]

4:00 YES PLEASE I WANT THAT

[@khronikles.8343]

I love the video, however I did find an error!; The county of Viken in Norway no longer exists. It was disbanded on January 1st of 2024, this year, after it was decided the county lacked legitimacy during the Norwegian region unifications of 2020. The counties that are included in the Scandinavian String are now Akershus, Østfold and Oslo.

[@bjornreal4952]

Can i get the sources for the map of the megaregions? i cant find such map

[@General.Knowledge]

There's a few of them! The individual ones I created myself, but based them off this one: i.redd.it/qjp5gfr7l7fb1.jpg

[@bjornreal4952]

@@General.Knowledge thank you, i am an norwegian wikipedian and i am trying to write an article about the golden banana in norwegian.

[@LuisAldamiz]

I've been doing my own homework and I see the following megalopolises in the pre-Brexit EU: 1. Semiconnected Rhine megalopolis: 1.1. Lower Rhine (Belgium, South NL, NPDC in France, Nord Rhineland and Saar in Germany) 1.2. Middle Rhine (much of BW in Germany, Lorraine-Champagne and North Alsace in France) 1.3. Zurich area (mostly NE Switzerland but grabbing border areas of Germany and Austria) 2. Semiconnected England Megalopolis (most of England and also Cardiff area in Wales), can be split in two plus Cardiff and York outside of it): 2.1 London Megalopolis 2.2. Midlands Megalopolis 3. North Italy-Provence. This one should be definitely a distinct megalopolis: from the Rhone to at least Venice, from Ticino to Tuscany). 4. Oporto-Coimbra-Vigo (Lisbon is not part of that megalopolis) 5. Valencia-Murcia (separated from Barcelona Tarragona and Provence) 6. Barcelona-Tarragona 7. Rome-Naples 8. Krakow (extending southwards to West Slovakia and brorder areas of Moravia but not as far as Vienna, nor much less Slovenia, etc., it doesn't include Warsaw either, which is as isolated as Paris or Madrid as metropolis but not inside a megalopolis)

[@eliplayz22]

This megalopolis series is epic. Also, I think megalopolis plural is the same plural as it is singular, like moose, but that’s just my guess

[@JeeWeeD]

It is megalopolēs in Latin, and I think we should just use that.

[@maxwell9437]

It’s a pity you didn’t mention Silesian Metropoly in southern Poland, which is the most urbanised and most industrialised region of Poland. A great cluster of Katowice and smaller cities is bigger and more populated than any big city in Poland, even Warsaw.

[@qzg7857]

It was weird that he missed the biggest megalopolis of Green banana in a video about megalopolises

[@staffan-]

"Covering the entire countries of Andorra and Monaco" 4:30 Well, it would have been an impresive level of detail if only parts of these countries were included. 😉

[@BostonElton]

lmao

[@General.Knowledge]

Ahahah that's true.

[@lonwabolungaselaledi9189]

South Africa also has a megalopolis in the Gauteng Province. Johannesburg including Soweto (6.5 million people), Pretoria (2.5 million people), East Rand (3.5 million people). The province of Gauteng alone has a population exceeding 15 million people (over 30% of South Africa's population) and has an area of 18 000 km².

[@herbbert82]

10:50 considering that there is the largest underwatertunnel in the world connecting uk with europe...

[@hitrapperandartistdababy]

6:54 Doesn’t the Orange Banana also include Moldova? They look to be in thw area aswell

[@ivanos_95]

By those measurments, the whole of Europe can be counted as a megapolis, since there isn't any serious, uninhabited territory between those megaregions, also the population of Europe is over 746 million.

[@isotropisch82]

I've always through it was kind of a coincidence that England matches up with the Blue Banana. I'm not sure England has much interconnectivity with the Rhineland compared to, say Paris.

[@FikuthoFB]

6:52 Moldova not mentioned? Or is the map wrong?

[@General.Knowledge]

I struggled a little here too. I noticed that the 'banana' goes through Moldova too, but none of the descriptions I could find about this supposed megaregion (again, there were very few) mentioned any Moldovan cities as being part of it at all. Either the map or the description have to be wrong, yes.

[@Charmcaster2012]

​@@General.KnowledgeDon't worry,nobody cares about them :)) Romania will annex it someday

[@NoName-ex9pl]

as someone from Stuttgart I feel like another big megaregion is along the Danube river with Stuttgart at its western end including Cities like Ulm Augsburg, Munich, Salzburg, Linz, Vienna Bratislava and stretching to Budapest in Hungary.

[@mfra959]

I think Scandinavian string should be until oslo meanwhile Stockholm part of gulf of finland cause it's just make more sense

[@NoName-ex9pl]

for the Blue Banana I think it should be more split Britain as a whole is and has historically been a different economic area to the rest of Europe especially again since Brexit. Though on the mainland a Rhine megaregion makes sense including mostly areas around the Rhine and it’s tributaries. It’s the closest we get to an actual megapolis in Europe. For Italy, the Northern Po valley it’s just its own region.

[@nekhumonta]

I think you underestimate the amount of trade that happened across the channel. Many countries traded for Flemish cloth, which was made from British wool mostly.

[@hpvspeedmachine4183]

you uderesitmate the trade across the Alps. Northern Po valley trades largely with Germany.

[@ElfDraven]

Yeah. A video about the bananas

[@arnijulian6241]

Well you have banana's & so why not the Atlantic axis as a 'cob' to keep the yellow plant vibe. 'Atlantic corncob' works.

[@danielimmortuos666]

Please do one for South America and one for east Asia

[@flashbang8673]

I live in Constanța and I've never heard of the Golden Belt, I've never been to Odessa or Varna or Burgas. There isn't really much of a stable infrastructure, yes there are (crappy) roads but it doesn't feel like one big region. Other than that, great video!

[@Yora21]

The Blue Banana isn't just huge, it's also really old. It's basically the heartlands of the Carolingian Empire, plus England. Low Countries, Rhine Valley, and Northern Italy have been an economic powerhouse since the entire Middle Ages. Not just on the European Scale, but globally. It's one of the economically most valuable plot of lands. And unsurprisingly has been a constant major conflict zone from 50 BCE to 1945 CE.

[@Jake-rm4be]

Do one on American megalopolis

[@TMandarinka]

he did

[@loafoffloof3420]

he posted one about American megaregions about 4 weeks ago titled "What Are The 11 MEGAREGIONS Of The United States?"

[@Hession0Drasha]

The black sea one is severely underdeveloped. We need a motor way from istanbul-edirne-burgas-varna-constantsa-odessa

[@aivon18]

In Poland the most populated region that has over 2 milion people and is also in the green banana is Upper Silesia with the main city of Katowice. It's not so known, because it's not one city, but a metropoly of many cities, and we just call it here Silesia. Fun fact: There are two languages there, polish which is the main language, and silesian which is some combination of polish with german words i guess

[@MrKrakowian]

😅 Ok I was expecting a whole different topic on this video 🍌.

[@zomsaringar9842]

at 8:52 the map shows the regions of the string(including oslo) and the Gulf (including stockholm) really nicly. in your drawings it is different (the string including stockholm) and that feels to me somehow really wrong.

[@birgittae9046]

I recognised the same thing. Almost 40% of Sweden's population lives in the eastern region of central Sweden. But Stockholm and its surrounding business regions are not clearly included in either of the two detailed maps covering the nordic part of Europe.

[@hbowman108]

To these might be added the megaregion from Donetsk to Makhachkala. It is unusual in that it only contains smaller cities, with the other larger ones being Luhansk, Rostov, and Krasnodar.

[@enric-x]

Lyon is usually seen as part of the Sunbelt/Golden banana

[@PuNicAdbo]

8:51 guld of Finnland includes Stockholm in this picture.

[@birgittae9046]

Yes agree, but then Stockholm area is not mentioned in the specification and no Swedish flag? 🤔🇸🇪 Must have been forgotten…

[@benandring365]

With the exception of the Orange Banana its looks like all the Megalopolises overlap at some point. Making a Gigaopolis! Also could Belfast and Dublin be considered part of the Blue Banana?

[@birgittae9046]

Strange that the business spot Stockholm/Eastern Sweden is neither included in the detailed map of the Gulf of Finland nor The Scandinavian string? Almost 40% of Sweden's population lives in that eastern region of central Sweden.🤔

[@sejozwak]

Black sea one is literally just a massive Turkish city, plus the Bulgarian and Romanian coasts which are pretty unpopulated, and then randomly Odessa

[@JmKrokY]

6:20 *Sad Trieste and Fiume noises*