Geography — Page 8
Wonders of our planet
220 facts
The Caspian Sea is the largest lake in the world and is bigger than many countries.
With about 371,000 square kilometres, the Caspian Sea is larger than Germany or Japan. Despite its name, it is a…
The Sahara Desert is almost the size of the United States.
The Sahara covers about 9.2 million square kilometres, while the United States has approximately 9.8 million. Despite…
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
Canada holds about 62 percent of the worlds lakes, estimated at more than 3 million. Most are in the Canadian Shield…
The Dead Sea is a lake, not a sea.
Despite its name, the Dead Sea is a saltwater lake with no connection to the ocean. It is located in the Jordan…
Africa is the only continent that lies in all four hemispheres.
The African continent is crossed by the Equator and the Prime Meridian. This means that parts of Africa lie in the…
There is a town in Norway called Hell that freezes over every winter.
The village of Hell in Norway has this name, which means Inferno in English. Due to its Nordic climate, the locality…
Mount Everest is not the tallest mountain on Earth when measured from base to peak. That title belongs to Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
Although Mount Everest has the highest elevation above sea level, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is taller when measured from…
The Diomede Islands are less than four kilometers apart but have a twenty-one hour time difference.
The International Date Line passes exactly between the two islands. Big Diomede belongs to Russia and Little Diomede…
Mount Chimborazo is the point on Earth closest to the Sun due to the equatorial bulge.
The Earth is not a perfect sphere, being wider at the equator. Because Chimborazo is very close to the equator, its…
Istanbul is the only city in the world located on two different continents.
The Bosphorus Strait divides the city between the European side and the Asian side. This unique position has made it…
Lesotho is the only country in the world entirely above one thousand meters in elevation.
Also known as the Kingdom in the Sky, its lowest point is at one thousand four hundred meters. This makes it the…
The Dry Valleys in Antarctica have not seen rain for about two million years.
Despite being covered in ice elsewhere, this specific region is an extreme polar desert. Very strong katabatic winds…
Australia is wider than the diameter of the Moon.
The distance from east to west in Australia is almost four thousand kilometers, while the lunar diameter is only…
In Longyearbyen, the sun does not set for over four months.
Located in the Svalbard archipelago, the town experiences the midnight sun from April to August due to its extreme…
Russia and the United States are less than four kilometers apart.
In the Bering Strait, the Diomede Islands are only three kilometers eight hundred meters apart, separating the two…
We know the surface of Mars better than the ocean floor.
Only about twenty percent of the ocean floor has been mapped in detail, while the entire surface of Mars has been…
The Dead Sea is ten times saltier than the ocean.
With a salinity of about thirty-four percent, it is nearly impossible to sink in its extremely dense waters.
There is snow at the Earth's equator.
The Cayambe volcano, in Ecuador, has perpetual snow at its summit despite being exactly on the equator line.
Istanbul is the only city in the world located on two continents.
Divided by the Bosphorus Strait, the Turkish metropolis has a part in Europe and another in Asia, uniting two…
Lesotho is the only country in the world entirely above one thousand meters.
This small independent state in Southern Africa has the lowest high point of any country in the world, having no land…
The surface area of Russia is larger than the total area of the dwarf planet Pluto.
Russia has about seventeen million square kilometres, while Pluto has less than eighteen million.
The longest mountain range in the world is found at the bottom of the ocean.
The Mid-Ocean Ridge is over sixty-five thousand kilometres long and crosses all the major oceans.
Antarctica is technically the largest desert in the world.
A desert is defined by its very low annual precipitation. The interior of Antarctica receives less than fifty…
There are no mosquitoes in Iceland.
The rapid and drastic temperature changes in winter and the chemical composition of Icelandic water and soil make the…