Geography Awareness Week arrives November 15–21, 2026, when schools and map fans across the country put places and people in the spotlight. The National Geographic Society helped create it and still promotes it.
Third Week of November
Every year, during the third full week of November, Sunday through Saturday. Congress set it by law in 1987, and the Society still runs classroom activities around it.
That 1987 law also asked for a proclamation from the White House. Reagan’s text called for “appropriate ceremonies and activities” during the week.
GIS Day usually lands mid-week. In 2025 it fell on November 19, with the theme “Geo-Generalist Era: Where Spatial Meets Everything.”
Balloons, Pen Pals and a Law
Classrooms came first. A school in Los Angeles and one in Washington, D.C., spent a year swapping letters with partners on the opposite coast.
To launch the effort, students released balloons carrying notes. Whoever found one was asked to tell the Society which town and state it landed in.
Pleased with the result, the Society asked Congress for a national week. Lawmakers passed Public Law 100-78, and on September 8, 1987, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed November 15 to 21.
His proclamation kept the reason simple: “studies show that Americans need more geographical knowledge.”
Accounts differ on the paperwork, though. National Geographic’s education blog dates Reagan’s signature on the joint resolution to January 6, 1987.
Why the dates differ is unclear. The blog doesn’t say, and the September date above comes from the text of Proclamation 5700 itself.
Why Geography Gets a Week
Paper alone didn’t make it stick, the Society’s blog admits. In 1989 it began helping states form geographic alliances, adding seven new ones a year.
My Wonderful World, a later Society program, helped turn the week into a fuller celebration. The group has pushed geographic learning since 1888.
Reagan’s text tied the subject to a changing world. It called knowing about other lands and cultures “increasingly important” as nations grew more linked.
Young people were the main audience. Citizens, “especially young people,” should know their own country and its neighbors well, Reagan’s proclamation said.
Today the Society sees geography as a spur to action, not just a list of capitals. Its MapMaker tool was built with Esri, and it’s free to use without a log-in.
MapMaker lessons run from wildlife and oceans out to space. A World Water Map inside it shows how people’s water use affects the global water cycle.
Explorer stories show maps at work. Alicia Odewale uses them to help students picture life in Oklahoma’s historic all-Black towns about 100 years ago.
How to Join In
- Build a map of your neighborhood in MapMaker and pin a few places that matter to you.
- Recreate the classroom idea: trade letters with a class or friend in another state.
- Find a GIS Day event near you, since it falls during the week.
- Explore the Florida Wildlife Corridor map, which spans nearly 17.7 million acres.
- Pick a country in the news, then map its neighbors and rivers.
- Quiz your family on where everyday foods come from, then find those places on a map.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who created Geography Awareness Week?
Congress made it law after lobbying by the Society, and President Reagan issued the proclamation.
Is Geography Awareness Week an official observance?
Yes, in the sense that a federal law created it. No one gets a day off, though.
When did GIS Day begin?
The first formal one was held in 1999. Esri’s Jack Dangermond credits activist Ralph Nader with inspiring it.
Is the week on the same dates every year?
No. It follows the calendar, so the exact days shift.