GEOGRAPHY WORLD RECORDS AND AMAZING FACTS REFERENCE LINKS

GEOGRAPHY WORLD RECORDS

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Extreme Highs and Lows

LOCATION	REGION	FACTS
Mount Everest	The Himalaya of Nepal and China1	The summit of Mount Everest is the highest point on the Earth's surface as measured from sea level at 8,850 meters above the Geoid.2 Mount Everest continues to rise at an average rate of about 40 millimeters per year as the Indian Tectonic Plate slides north under the Eurasian Plate.
Dead Sea	Jordan, Israel, and Palestine3	The surface of the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the Earth's surface as measured from sea level at about 412 meters below the Geoid.2 The Dead Sea is a salt lake with no outlet, so its surface level fluctuates significantly with inflow and evaporation.
Challenger Deep	Mariana Trench of Pacific Ocean	The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the deepest point on the Earth's ocean floor as measured from sea level at 10,911 meters below the Geoid.2 The Challenger Deep is more than 23% deeper than Mount Everest is high.
Chimborazo	The Andes of Ecuador	The summit of Volcán Chimborazo is the farthest point on the Earth's surface from the Earth's center of mass at 6,384,404 meters.4
North Pole	Arctic Ocean	The surface of the Arctic Ocean at the North Pole is the closest point on the Earth's surface to the Earth's center of mass at 6,356,752 meters.4 The Arctic Ocean at the North Pole is covered by sea ice and snow most of the year, but the sea water opens occasionally in late summer.
Polar Deep	Amundsen Basin of Arctic Ocean	The Polar Deep in the Amundsen Basin is the closest point on the Earth's ocean floor to the Earth's center of mass at approximately 6,352,300 meters.4 The Polar Deep is near the North Pole, but its exact location and depth have yet to be determined.

Note 1: The People's Republic of China has absorbed the nation of Tibet.
Note 2: A geoid is a mathematical model of the Earth used to define global mean sea level.
Note 3: An independent state of Palestine has been proposed, but not established.
Note 4: The Earth is oblate, i.e., fatter around the equator than at the poles.

Extreme Landmasses

LOCATION	REGION	FACTS
Eurasia	Eurasia	Eurasia is the most extensive landmass on Earth with a total surface area of 54,517,197,000,000 square meters (54.5172 Tm² = 11.7% of the Earth's surface). Eurasia has both the Earth's highest surface point of 8,850 meters above mean sea level at the summit of Mount Everest as well as the Earth's lowest surface point of 412 meters below mean sea level at the Dead Sea. Eurasia is also the most populous landmass with more than 4,200,000,000 human inhabitants. Eurasia has historically been considered to be two continents, Asia and Europe, because of its tremendous area. Eurasia is connected to the continent of Africa by the Isthmus of Suez.
Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat)	Kalaallit Nunaat, Denmark	Greenland is the most extensive island on Earth with a total surface area of 2,130,800,000,000 square meters (2.1308 Tm²). Greenland has fewer than 60,000 human inhabitants.
Manitoulin Island	Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada	Manitoulin Island is the Earth's most extensive island situated in a lake with a total surface area of 2,766,000,000 square meters (2.766 Gm²).
Java (Jawa)	Indonesia	Java is the most populous island on Earth with more than 120,000,000 human inhabitants.
Devon Island	Nunavut, Canada	Devon Island is the most extensive uninhibited landmass on Earth with a total surface area of 55,247,000,000 square meters (55.247 Gm²), but no human inhabitants.
New Guinea (Irian)	Indonesia and Papua New Guinea	New Guinea is the tallest island on Earth with a maximum elevation of 5,030 meters above mean sea level at the summit of Puncak Jaya.
Ometepe	Lago de Nicaragua, Nicaragua	Isla Ometepe is the Earth's tallest island situated in a lake. Volcán Concepción (1,576 m), the taller of the two volcanos on Ometepe, rises about 1,544 meters above the surface of Lago de Nicaragua (Lago Cocibolca) (32 m).
Hispaniola	Dominican Republic and Haiti	Hispaniola has the lowest surface point of any of the Earth's ocean islands with a maximum depression of about 46 meters below mean sea level at Lago Enriquillo.

Extreme Mountains and Canyons

LOCATION	REGION	FACTS
Mauna Kea	Island of Hawaii, Hawaii, United States	Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain on Earth as measured from base to summit, with a total height of 10,203 meters. The base of Mauna Kea on the floor of the Pacific Ocean is 5,998 meters below mean sea level and its summit is 4,205 meters above mean sea level.
Mauna Loa	Island of Hawaii, Hawaii, United States	Mauna Loa is the most voluminous mountain on Earth with a volume of 74,000,000,000,000 cubic meters (74 Tm³), enoungh material to fill the Grand Canyon more than 18 times. Though 36 meters lower than neighboring Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa is the most massive mountain on Earth.
Grand Canyon	Arizona, United States	The Grand Canyon is the most voluminous dry canyon on Earth with a volume of 4,100,000,000,000 cubic meters (4.1 Tm³).
Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon)	Chihuahua, Mexico	Barranca del Cobre is the most voluminous dry canyon system on Earth with a total volume of 16,000,000,000,000 cubic meters (16 Tm³).

Extreme Climate

LOCATION	REGION	FACTS
Al ‘Aziziyah	Libya	A temperature of 330.87 kelvin (57.7°C = 135.9°F) recorded on September 13, 1922, at Al ‘Aziziyah, Libya, is the highest ambient air temperature every recorded at the surface of the Earth.
Vostok	Antarctica	A temperature of 183.95 kelvin (-89.2°C = -128.6°F) recorded on July 21, 1983, at the Vostok Station, Antarctica, is the lowest ambient air temperature every recorded at the surface of the Earth.
Dalol	Ethiopia	An average yearly ambient air temperature of 307.55 kelvin (34.4°C = 93.9°F) makes Dalol, Ethiopia, the warmest place at the surface of the Earth.
Plateau Station	Antarctica	An average yearly ambient air temperature of 216.75 kelvin (-56.4°C = -69.5°F) made the Plateau Station, Antarctica, the coolest place at the surface of the Earth. The Plateau Station was operated by the United States from December 1965 to January 1969. Many scientists feel that the coldest temperatures on Earth occur in the vicinity of the Plateau Station.
Mawsynram	Meghalaya, India	An average yearly precipitation of 11.872 meters (467.4 inches) makes the village of Mawsynram, India, the rainiest place on Earth.
Arica	Tarapacá, Chile	An average yearly precipitation of 0.8 millimeters (0.03 inch) makes the port city of Arica, Chile, the least rainy place on Earth.

Extreme Water

LOCATION	REGION	FACTS
Pacific Ocean	Pacific Ocean	The Pacific Ocean is the most voluminous body of water on Earth with a volume of 674,052,000,000,000,000 cubic meters (674 Pm³), approximately half of all water on Earth. The Pacific Ocean is also the most extensive body of water with a surface area of 164,015,000,000,000 square meters (164.015 Tm² = 32.2% of the Earth's surface), and the deepest body of water with a maximum depth of 10,911 meters.
Caspian Sea	Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia	The Caspian Sea is the most voluminous lake on Earth with a volume of 78,200,000,000,000 cubic meters (78.2 Tm³). The Caspian Sea is also the most extensive lake on Earth with a surface area of 374,000,000,000 square meters (374 Gm²). The Caspian Sea is a landlocked remnant of the Mesozoic Tethys Sea which also encompassed what are today the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and Aral Sea.
Lake Baikal	Russia	Lake Baikal is the most voluminous body of fresh water on Earth with a volume of 23,000,000,000,000 cubic meters (23.0 Tm³). Lake Baikal is also the deepest lake on Earth with a maximum depth of 1741 meters and an mean depth of 730 meters.
Lake Michigan and Lake Huron	United States and Canada	Lake Michigan and Lake Huron form the most extensive body of fresh water on Earth with a surface area of 117,318,000,000 square meters (117.32 Gm²). Although usually considered two separate lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron maintain a consistent surface level and are thus two lobes of one common lake.
Amazon	Peru and Brazil	The Amazon has the greatest flow of any river on Earth with an average discharge rate of 219,000 cubic meters per second into the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon has the largest drainage basin of any river with an area of 6,915,000,000,000 square meters (6.915 Tm²).
Nile	Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt	The Nile is the longest river on Earth with a total length of 6,695 kilometers from the source of the White Nile at Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean Sea.
Salto Angel	Venezuela	Salto Angel is the tallest waterfall on Earth with an uninterrupted drop of 807 meters and a total drop of 978 meters.

Extreme Countries

COUNTRY	FACTS
Canada	Canada has the longest coastline of any country with an total length of 202,080 kilometers (more than five times the circumference of the Earth!) Canada and the United States share the longest common land border with a total length of 8,893 kilometers.
China	The People's Republic of China is the most populous country with more than 1,300,000,000 human inhabitants. China also has the longest land borders of any country with a total length of 22,117 kilometers. China is one of only two nations that border fourteen countries: Afghanistan (76 km), Bhutan (470 km), Burma (2,185 km), India (3,380 km), Kazakhstan (1,533 km), North Korea (1,416 km), Kyrgyzstan (858 km), (Laos 423 km), Mongolia (4,677 km), Nepal (1,236 km), Pakistan (523 km), Russia (3,645 km), Tajikistan (414 km), and Vietnam (1,281 km).
East Timor	The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste is purportedly the poorest country with an estimated per capita annual gross domestic product of $400 PPP1 in 2004.
Ethiopia	The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country with more than 73,000,000 human inhabitants, but no ocean access.
Kazakhstan	The Republic of Kazakhstan is the most extensive landlocked country with a total surface area of 2,717,300,000,000 square meters (2.71730 Tm²), but no ocean access.
Liechtenstein	The Principality of Liechtenstein is one of only two nations that are doubly landlocked.2 Liechtenstein borders two other landlocked countries: Austria (34.9 km) and Switzerland (41.1 km).
Luxembourg	The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is the wealthiest country with a per capita annual gross domestic product of $58,900 PPP1 in 2004. Luxembourg is a very fortunate landlocked country.
Maldives	The Republic of Maldives has the lowest mean elevation of any country at 0.8 meter above mean sea level. The maximum elevation in the Maldives is only 2.4 meters above mean sea level. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami inundated most of the Maldives. A rising sea level could force the evacuation of the Maldives and many other low lying regions of the Earth.
Monaco	The Principality of Monaco is the most densely populated country with 16,620 persons per square kilometer in 2005.
Mongolia	Mongolia is the most sparcely populated country with 1.78 persons per square kilometer in 2005.
Russia	The Russian Federation is the most extensive country with a total surface area of 17,075,200,000,000 square meters (17.0752 Tm²). Russia is one of only two nations that border fourteen countries: Azerbaijan (284 km), Belarus (959 km), China (3,645 km), Estonia (294 km), Finland (1,340 km), Georgia (723 km), Kazakhstan (6,846 km), North Korea (19 km), Latvia (217 km), Lithuania (227 km), Mongolia (3,485 km), Norway (196 km), Poland (206 km), and Ukraine (1,576 km).
United States	The United States of America has the largest economy of any country with an annual gross domestic product of $11,750,000,000,000 PPP1 in 2004, about 21% of the gross world product. The United States and Canada share the longest common land border with a total length of 8,893 kilometers.
Uzbekistan	The Republic of Uzbekistan is one of only two nations that are doubly landlocked.2 Uzbekistan borders five other landlocked countries: Afghanistan (137 km), Kazakhstan (2,203 km), Kyrgyzstan (1,099 km), Tajikistan (1,161 km), and Turkmenistan (1,621 km).

Note: A region is said to be doubly landlocked when all adjoining regions lack ocean access.

WORLD GEOGRAPHY

Atlantis - Plato's Lost City

Black Rock Desert, Nevada

Bonneville, Utah - History

Caribbean - Central America

Cayman Islands

Chichester Harbour

China

Columbia - S. America

Daytona Beach - Florida USA

Denmark

Eastbounre Pier, England

Holland the Nertherlands

Hollywood, California, LA

Isle of Wight - The Needles

London - Big Ben

London Houses Parliament

London - Buckingham Palace

London - Old Bailey

London - Overview

London - The City

London - Tower Bridge

London - Trafalgar Square

Luxembourg

Malaysia

Malta

Maya Empire - Central America

Pendine Sands - Carmarthen

Salt Lake City - Utah

Sri Lanka - Links

Sussex, England Index

Sweden

Switzerland

Sydney, Australia

Tahiti - Polynesia - Links

Trinidad - Lesser Antilles

Tsunami

Tunbridge Wells, England

Turkey

UAE - United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom - Gov

Wealden iron industry

Wendover, Utah

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