Highlight country, continent and state polygons

The pygmt.Figure.coast method can highlight country polygons via the dcw parameter. It accepts the country code or full country name and can draw its borders and add a color to its landmass. It’s also possible to define multiple countries at once by separating the individual names with commas.

import pygmt

fig = pygmt.Figure()

fig.coast(
    region=[-12, 32, 34, 72],
    # Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area lon0/lat0/horizon/width
    projection="A10/52/25/6c",
    land="gray",
    water="white",
    frame="afg",
    dcw=[
        # Great Britain (country code) with seagrean land
        "GB+gseagreen",
        # Italy with a red border
        "IT+p0.5p,red3",
        # Spain with a magenta dashed border
        "ES+p0.5p,magenta4,-",
        # Romania with a black dotted border
        "RO+p0.75p,black,.",
        # Germany with orange land and a blue border
        "DE+gorange+p0.5p,dodgerblue4",
        # France (full country name) with a steelblue border
        "France+p0.5p,steelblue",
        # Norway, Sweden and Finland (multiple countries) with pink
        # land and pink3 borders
        "Norway,Sweden,Finland+gpink+p0.2p,pink3",
    ],
)

fig.show()

Entire continents can also be highlighted by adding "=" in front of the continent code to differentiate it from a country code.

fig = pygmt.Figure()

fig.coast(
    region="d",
    projection="H10c",
    land="gray",
    water="white",
    frame="afg",
    dcw=[
        # Europe
        "=EU+gseagreen",
        # Africa
        "=AF+gred3",
        # North America
        "=NA+gmagenta4",
        # South America
        "=SA+gorange",
        # Asia
        "=AS+gdodgerblue4",
        # Oceania
        "=OC+gtomato",
        # Antarctica
        "=AN+ggray30",
    ],
)

fig.show()

If available, states/territories of a country can be highlighted, too.

fig = pygmt.Figure()

fig.coast(
    region=[-130, -70, 24, 52],
    projection="L-100/35/33/45/12c",
    land="gray",
    shorelines="1/0.5p,gray30",
    borders=["1/0.8p,gray30", "2/0.2p,gray30"],
    frame=True,
    dcw=[
        # Texas with orange fill
        "US.TX+gorange",
        # Kentucky with blue outline
        "US.KY+p1p,blue",
    ],
)

fig.show()