Terrifyingly Vast

[u/christopherbonis]

So I live in Massachusetts. And from my point of view, Maine is huge. And indeed, it’s larger than the rest of New England combined.

And I also think of Maine as super rural. And indeed, it’s the only state on the eastern seaboard with unorganized territory.

…and then I look northward at the Quebec. And it just fills me a sort of terrified, existential awe at its incomprehensible vastness, intensified by the realization that it’s just one portion of Canada—and not even the largest province/territory.

What on Earth goes on up there in the interior of Quebec? How many lakes have humans never even laid eyes on before—much less fished or explored? What does the topography look like? It’s just so massive, so vast, so remote that it’s hard for me even to wrap my head around.

[u/TheLastSamurai101]

It's huge, but it's only the tenth largest subnational division in the world and only the fifth largest in the Americas. Greenland, Nunavut, Alaska and Amazonas are all larger.

[u/christopherbonis → u/TheLastSamurai101]

Very good point. I explore all those as well, but only Quebec borders New England. Can you believe that the Northwest Territories used to encompass Nunavut as well‽ I think it was even larger than Greenland!