Geography Trivia

You probably wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t an avid traveler so here’s a fun diversion with some interesting observations involving world geography and records.

U.S. Coastlines

More than half of the coastline of the entire
United States is in Alaska. 33,903 miles

Number two is Florida at 13,576 miles and Louisiana is three at 8,435 miles

Measuring coastlines is tricky because of all the bays and islands that can add a lot to the total. Actually Maine has more coastline than California at 3,477 miles versus 3,426 miles for California.

The Amazon

The Amazon rain forest is responsible for 20% of all the world’s oxygen production.

The Amazon River moves so much water out into the Atlantic that one hundred miles at sea the surface is still mostly fresh water. The flow from the Amazon river is larger than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.

Antarctica

Antarctica is the only place on the planet that is not owned by anyone. Ninety percent of the world’s ice is in Antarctica and represents seventy percent of all the worlds fresh water. Oddly Antarctica is the driest continent with the average precipitation being about two inches. With the driest place on Earth being Antarctica’s Ross Island where it is believed there has been no rainfall for two million years.

Odds n’ Ends

Brazil is named for a nut, not the reverse.

Canada has more lakes than all the rest of the world.

Canada is an Indian word meaning ‘ Big Village’.

Major City Facts

Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world. There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy before 100 B.C.

Woodward Avenue in Detroit has the national designation route M-1 because it was the first paved motorway anywhere in the world.

Damascus, Syria, was a major city two thousand years before Rome was founded, making it the oldest still inhabited city in thee world.

Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world situated on two continents.

The full original name of Los Angeles was Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula but referred to now as simply L.A.

Odds N’ Ends

The smallest island country is Pitcairn in Polynesia, having only 1.75 sq. miles.

The smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta located in the city of Rome, Italy, with an area smaller than a football field with a population of 80.

The town of Tidikelt, Algeria has not had a drop of rain over a period of ten years.

Siberia contains more than 25% of the world’s forests.

Spain’s name actually means “the land of rabbits”.

The deepest hole ever drilled is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, in Russia. It reached a depth of 40,226 feet or 7.62 miles. It was drilled for scientific research and it discovered a huge deposit of hydrogen gas sequestered in the Earth.

President Eisenhower commissioned the United States interstate system to provide a military advantage in defending the country. It was intended to allow the fast deployment of military resources should the country be invaded and requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. There is also a secret signage system installed along America’s highways with coded directions to military bases and supply depots.