Theory: Russia is gone in the SU ‘verse because of a Gem-caused Tunguska event.

I think everyone noticed, in the new episode, that the Steven Universe world map looks a little bit different to ours. Australia’s seen better days, half of Africa’s still attached to South America, India’s been split from the rest of the continent… oh yeah, and Russia’s a giant crater with a Gem structure in it..

In 1908 something happened in Russia called the Tunguska event. It was a giant explosion that flattened over two thousand square kilometers of forest, caused shockwaves that were felt as far away as Great Britain, and was so bright that it caused the night skies in Europe and Asia to glow for several nights after the event itself. The air burst was estimated to have been the equivalent of about 15 megatons of TNT - for comparison, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was only 15 kilotons.

The cause of the Tunguska event is believed to have been a meteor that burst above Earth’s surface instead of directly impacting it.

But what if, in the alternate history of Steven Universe, the Tunguska event was caused by the Homeworld gems… and instead of just flattening some forest, it wiped Russia off the map?