I ranked BRICS on nothing but their maps

The original five BRICS countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, ranked on nothing but their map, on the same seven tests as the G7: rivers, coasts, defences, neighbours, farmland, resources and hazards, each scored from one to five. Then all twelve on one board. 0:00 Intro 0:41 The rules 1:39 China 5:22 India 9:09 Russia 13:42 South Africa 17:58 Brazil 21:31 The final board The G7 video:    • I ranked the G7 on nothing but their maps   Next: the rest of BRICS (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, Indonesia and, maybe, Saudi Arabia). Sources Income per person: IMF World Economic Outlook (April 2026) BRICS: the first BRIC summit, Yekaterinburg, June 2009; South Africa invited in, 24 December 2010 (Mail & Guardian; SAnews); Saudi Arabia, invited in 2023, attends as an invited country (SPA, September 2026) China: Britannica and China Daily (the Yangtze); UNESCO (the Grand Canal); China's National Bureau of Statistics (coastline); Shanghai government and Upply (container ports); Permanent Court of Arbitration (the 2016 award); FAO via the World Bank (farmland); S&P Global (soybeans); Energy Institute and USGS (coal, rare earths); USGS (Sichuan, 2008) India: UN (population); the Ganges Water Treaty (1996); FAO (arable land); USDA (rice exports); Britannica (the Khyber Pass); Down To Earth (Punjab's groundwater) Russia: Britannica (rivers, the Volga); Russian transport ministry (canals); Natural Earth (Moscow to the sea, 630 km); Guinness (neighbours); USDA FAS (wheat); EIA (gas and oil); USGS (Kamchatka, 2025) South Africa: World Gold Council and USGS (gold, platinum); City of Cape Town (Table Bay, Day Zero); FAO AQUASTAT (farmland); Citrus Growers' Association (citrus exports) Brazil: Britannica (the Amazon, the Paraná); IBGE, the 2022 census (where Brazilians live); Itaipu Binacional; Embrapa (the cerrado); USGS (niobium); Monthly Weather Review (Catarina, 2004); AP (the Rio Grande do Sul floods, 2024; the Rio Negro's record lows) Satellite imagery (Shanghai's Yangshan port, Fiery Cross Reef, Farakka, the Bosporus, Table Bay, Durban, Manaus, Itaipu, Guanabara Bay, the cerrado, Carajás): Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025, 2026. Augrabies Falls: imagery ©2026 Airbus, CNES / Airbus, Maxar Technologies. Maps: Natural Earth.