Fill countries in python basemap

Question

Hi I am trying to plot a map using pythons basemap with some countries filled in a certain colour.

Is there a quick and easy solution out there??

Answer 1

Updating @pelson answer for Python 3:

import cartopy.crs as ccrs
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import cartopy.io.shapereader as shpreader
import itertools
import numpy as np

shapename = 'admin_0_countries'
countries_shp = shpreader.natural_earth(resolution='110m',
                                        category='cultural', name=shapename)

print(countries_shp)

# some nice "earthy" colors
earth_colors = np.array([(199, 233, 192),
                         (161, 217, 155),
                         (116, 196, 118),
                         (65, 171, 93),
                         (35, 139, 69),
                        ]) / 255
earth_colors = itertools.cycle(earth_colors)

ax = plt.axes(projection=ccrs.PlateCarree())

for country in shpreader.Reader(countries_shp).records():
    print(country.attributes['NAME_LONG'], next(earth_colors))
    ax.add_geometries(country.geometry, ccrs.PlateCarree(),
                      facecolor=next(earth_colors),
                      label=country.attributes['NAME_LONG'])

plt.show()