While touring South Africa with Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden in 2008, hotel heiress Paris Hilton couldn't help but rave about her travels across the continent. According to the British tabloid The Sun, Hilton enthusiastically told reporters in Johannesburg: "I love Africa in general South Africa and West Africa, they are both great countries!" What she meant to say was "I just love Benin, Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo" the 16 countries that comprise the region known as West Africa. But she knows most tabloid reporters probably wouldn't remember all that.
Top 10 Geography Blunders
While cartographic whizzes from schools across the country compete in National Geographic Bee Finals in Washington on May 20, TIME takes a look at 10 people who could use some remedial lessons.