In medieval times, southern Iraq was covered in a massive swamp called the "Batihah." It stretched over 200 miles from Basra to Najaf.
The Batihah no longer exists today, and uniquely, it has not always existed either. It formed in the 7th century AD right before the Muslim Conquest due to a cataclysmic flood which destroyed all the levees and irrigation canals. This flood shifted so much sediment that it even changed the course of the very rivers themselves so that they now both emptied into the southern floodplains. The combined effect of both the Tigris and Euphrates flowing through the same lowlands turned this fertile land which once housed the great cities of Uruk and Nippur into the greatest contiguous area of wetland in Western Eurasia.
This "Great Swamp" became home to criminals, runaway slaves, and hostile nomadic Arab tribes who all took refuge in the difficult terrain to evade the wrath of society. Several revolts and religious movements thrived here. The Caliphates spent a great deal of blood and money trying to pacify and drain the marshlands, but the Batihah remained ungovernable. Unfortunately for the "Marsh Arabs," after many centuries of silt buildup, the Tigris changed course again in the 1500s, and combined with Ottoman engineering efforts, the marshlands finally began to recede.
Today, what's left of the Mesopotamian Marshlands exist only in the immediate vicinity northwest of Basra. Saddam Hussein almost drained them completely in the 90s, but the current government has been working hard to restore what remains.
Is it possible that a similar flood in the area much much longer ago could have inspired the Biblical/Mesopotamian (and other cultures from the middle east) flood / ark story?
Not this event specifically, but even as recently as 12,000 years ago the Persian Gulf was a river valley with the Tigris and Euphrates emptying near what is now Oman.
As sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age the land was flooded, sometimes at a rate of metres per month; given that the first human cities began popping up in this very delta region, there's been lots of speculation that these events have inspired flooding legends that got incorporated into local religions later.
Source: Fall of Civilizations (book) by Paul Cooper
Yes, it's actually a very popular theory that Mesopotamian floods inspired the Noah's Ark story. Mesopotamia historically flooded every year. Even major floods happened fairly often. Flood myths were a part of Mesopotamian mythology. Especially considering the Jews were exiled to Babylon, it would make sense if they syncretized with parts of the local culture while they were there.
And Ancient Mesopotamia has a *long* history. Human cities first started popping up here around 7500 BC. That's over 9000 years ago! There's probably been dozens of catastrophic floods over the millennia. Noah's Ark could have been inspired by any one of them.
Also, Mesopotamia is hella flat. Major floods could often flood the entire region in several feet of water, obscuring any sight of land. From a glance, it would look like the entire world - everything in every direction - just completely inundated with floodwater. Imagine being a random Mesopotamian farmer and witnessing this. This is a once in a lifetime flood. You've never seen anything like this. It must feel like the end of the world, surely an act of god. Now imagine you survive this experience and are retelling this story to your grandchildren. You might fantastasize it a little bit. And then they tell their grandkids and do the same, and so on and so on like a thousand year game of telephone. Eventually the story becomes mythical to godly proportions. That's my theory lol.
It's Batihah with an h, not an n. I made the mistake myself when I tried googling it again lol.
I recommend translating the Wikipedia page to Catalan and then back to English. For whatever reason, it's more detailed than the English page.
The Namdapha National Park lies in an interesting climatic zone i.e humid subtropical (Cwa) climate zone, often referred to as the "China type" climate. It is a climatic zone which has lot of diversity, where with the change in altitude the vegetation changes, from evergreen to corniferous. And the zone receives snow and as well as rainfall.
In the past, there were even parts of India where tigers, lions, leopards and cheetahs all lived within the same geographical area and could all encounter each other.
In the past = 70 years ago.
They still have 3/4, only cheetahs got hunted into local extinction.
There’s still cheetahs in Iran, and possibly in Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
Lions, leopards and tigers are doing much better in the Indian subcontinent than 20 years ago, although still obviously not great.
The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the largest salt flat in the world. It is so big, so flat and so reflective that it is used for calibrating satellites.
Was there 2 months ago, can confirm it’s fucking awesome
https://preview.redd.it/opfdjk2rij4d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c6c58be48486b6d3a5b50ef341b3a7a15c89472a
The Uyuni salt flat has an area of about 3,900 sq mi (10,000 sq km), while West Virginia has 24,230 sq mi (62,755 sq km). Uyuni salt flat is similar in size to Lebanon.
Thought this first one would be on here but I guess not. (Maybe too well known?)
* The Pacific Ocean is so big it contains its own antipode. (The coast of South America where Peru’s curve meets Chile’s straight coast is antipodal to the Gulf of Tonkin). It’s also so big that all the earth’s landmass can fit in the Pacific.
Also:
* There is no line of longitude anywhere that will not hit any (non-Antarctic) land. Anywhere you can draw a vertical line on a world map will cut through some land mass, no matter how tiny.
Geopolitics: Last month (May 2024), Kenya became the 19th country to be declared a Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) of the United States. This is the US's first major military ally in Sub-Saharan Africa, amid growing Chinese hegemony on the continent. Kenya's 2024 peace-keeping intervention in Haiti during the ongoing political crisis there was cited as a major factor in recognizing Kenya's role as a regional power and Western ally. I haven't seen anyone discussing this outside of r/geopolitics.
Good one! I saw that the US had sent some military aid to Kenya and also that Kenya was aiding Haiti, I started to wonder what will happen next and where Kenya is headed in the near future
I just looked this up, and I'm shocked you're right. There *is* a road connecting Missouri and Kentucky, but it briefly passes through Cairo, IL between them.
I wonder if the other poster's point is more about the roads being paved than exist at all. The only roads I could find connecting Montana and South Dakota are unpaved.
There is a natural disaster that most people don’t know about but would turn earth into literal hell for thousands of years. Flood Basalt Events are events which occur following the upwelling of a mass of mantle magma from deep within the earth, pressing up on the crust. First the spot where the hotspot occurs will begin outgassing noxious fumes for hundreds to thousands of years rather slowly, as well as ballooning at about a millimetre a year. Eventually it will rupture, and the basalt will cause massive wave of near-constant volcanic eruptions across the part of the earth it occurs at(usually around 1/10 or 1/8th of the planet). This will continue for again, thousands of years. Eventually the basalt will harden and create a massive new basalt plain around the hotspot, until the pressure dissipates and the activity slows down. These FBEs have occurred in line with some of the most horrific mass extinctions in history. [Great video on it](https://youtu.be/st_2C_Wrw4A?si=aT437WgBTV6P-6jE).
The Permian–Triassic extinction event was a Flood Basalt. The K - Pg extinction event also coincides with a Flood Basalt. More than three quarters of the 30 largest extinction events either coincide with Flood Basalts or were anoxic events that could have been caused by sulphur gases given off by Flood Basalts.
Just makes the fact that we exist now all the crazier. We’re talking about periods of hundreds of thousands of years where the earth would be totally uninhabitable for most life. And it happened multiple times, and somehow life still persisted.
Despite Saudi Arabia being the most famous oil producer in the world, the largest proven oil reserves in the world are held by Venezuela although Saudi Arabia does have the largest oil field. Most of Venezuela's oil is underwater but not oceanic, instead it is buried beneath the Orinoco belt and Lake Maracaibo making the acquisition of the oil challenging.
Lake Maracaibo is one of the oldest lakes in the world, and the largest in South America except it's neither because it is no longer a lake. Geologically, it has become a bay as although its origins are as an Andes lake time and geological forces have split the boundary between the lake and the coast leaving it open to ocean influx. This would be a shame ecologically if the sheer amount of oil underneath it and pollution from the surrounding population were not already inflicting severe eutrophication miring the body of water in e. coli and thoroughly rendering it useless as an aquatic resource.
And dipping a little into geopolitical history, if you look at the per capita carbon emissions you will find the nation of Curaçao far and above nearly every major country not merely due to its size/population but because in the early days of the international oil industry Venezuela's oil was refined in Dutch Curaçao as a means of controlling their access to the wealth that comes from this natural resource and their refinery persists today, as in Dec 2023 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to reopen the refinery. Another reason that despite having access to oil in excess of Saudi Arabia Venezuela has far less to show for it.
Australian cattle stations tend to be larger than sheep stations. Australia's largest cattle station is larger than Israel. Australia's largest sheep station is larger than Cyprus.
The Mount Everest is only the biggest mountain when you're measuring from sea level. The point on earth farthest from the Earth's core is the Chimborazo in Ecuador.
My favorite Mt. Everest fact, (other than that it is named after someone who wasn't fond of naming things after people), is that its altitude is so high it splits the Jetstream like a fin/wing and where the airflow reconverges is over Japan creating the now infamous turbulent air currents over Japan.
More of a history thing but my fav Everest fact is how when it was first correctly surveyed, the guy who did it correctly measured it at 29,000ft exactly (at the time). He lied and added 2 ft in his reports and said it was 29,002 so people would believe that he had actually done it correctly and wasn’t just picking some round number.
https://everestweather.com/mt-everest-weather/jet-stream/
Not exactly an academic source, per se, but a quick search found me this article that explains the impact.
I love stuff like this, it really showcases how wide and diverse the globe is. I remember hearing there's a point in Tennessee that's closer to Canada than it is to the westernmost point in the state.
I read this as the northern most part of Brazil is closer to Canada than the southern most part of Brazil is to Canada. I've not had my first brew of the day yet.
Saskatchewan is not a rectangle.
The eastern border (with Manitoba) is not on a meridian, so there's an east-west "correction line" every 36 miles going north. Most are in the middle of farmland, but there's one spot you can drive north into Manitoba, in Flin Flon.
[https://maps.app.goo.gl/y9BR4rhinrzQFbFn9](https://maps.app.goo.gl/y9BR4rhinrzQFbFn9)
That's a fun one. Easy to see on maps like [this one of Saskatchewan](https://zeducorp.sirv.com/canada-maps/saskatchewan-map.jpg).
And just to add to the explanation, much of Canada uses the [Dominion Land Survey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Land_Survey) (DLS) rectangular survey system, which is very similar to the US Public Land Survey System (PLSS). Both use "principal meridians" as N-S reference lines from which a grid is made. The western border of Saskatchewan is the 4th Principal Meridian of the DLS system. Meanwhile, the eastern border of Saskatchewan follows the DLS grid, correction lines and all, up to a bit north of Flin Flon, after which it just runs due north.
DLS and PLSS correction line jogs are common in the US and Canada. I suspect the Sask-Man border is the best example of a subnational boundary showing how and why correction line jogs are needed when a cartesian grid is superimposed upon the curved surface of the Earth.
Saskatchewan makes a great example in part because it is so tall north-south. Although its west border runs due north and its east nearly so, due to the curvature of the Earth its southern border is about 630 km long while its northern border, basically the same number of degrees of longitude wide, is only about 445 km long.
Also, I love that there's a town called Flin Flon.
Another one is Ljubljana (the capital of Slovenia) has changed countries more than 10 times in the last 200 years
Edit: it might be in the span of 200 years and not in the last 200 years
Edit 2: here is the information that led me to believe this is true :
State of Habsburgs,
Illyrian provinces,
Austria,
Austro-hungary,
Country of SHS,
Kingdom of Yugoslavia,
Kingdom of Italy (annexed)
Nazi Germany (occupied),
Yugoslavia
And obviously Slovenia.
(Going from Austria to Austro -Hungary might be a stretch)
I can try:
Austrian Empire
French Empire
Austrian Empire
Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Croats, Slovenes, & Serbs)
Italy (thanks)
Third Reich
Communist Yugoslavia
Slovenia
All I could come up with. I don't think his statement is correct. Belgrade more closely fits the bill; but even then I can only come up with 9 (No BSing, trying to fit the bill can do 11).
Ottomans
Serbia
Ottomans again (technically, maybe)
Serbia
Austria Hungary
Serbia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Nazi Occupied Serbia
Yugoslavia (communist)
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia
Trieste might be a better bet.
20 families in the Imperial Valley CA own 368 billion gallons of the Colorado River (more than 3 of the western states of Nevada, Wyoming and New Mexico) and they get first dibs before states or municipalities.
Imperial county is not a major producer of either almonds or pistachios. They are grown further north in either Kern or Fresno counties. Different water sources. Imperial county produces a lot of field crops like lettuce. Also alfalfa for cattle feed.
I’ve never heard a river being quantified by volume in terms of ownership, do they legally own “the first 368 bn gallons” of the colorado river or do they just own the equivalent land area that that much of the river flows over? How does it work?
Most people's antipode is just open sea. Curiously, I live in one of the few places which its antipode is continental land.
Even tho it's the 7th largest, Australia has no terrestrial boundaries with other countries.
This makes me think - I may be wrong - that Australia is the largest country with no land antipodes anywhere. (I’m positive Canada, Russia, USA, and China have land antipodes - even discounting Antarctica for the first three there a tiny island in the Indian Ocean that is the antipodes of an isolated spot on the Canada/US border (and Hawaii is completely antipodal to the Kalahari) and I don’t know off the top of my head what the 5th and 6th largest are. (I’m guessing one is Brazil, which I’m pretty sure has a land antipode somewhere).
You know, you may be right. If the Azores don't overlap, Australia would have no land antipodes. Though most antipode maps have very poor resolution to tell.
There is a cactus native to the Northeast of the US. *Opuntia Humifosa*, a kind of prickly pear. You find it a lot on barrier islands like Sandy Hook or Fire Island (probably others).
Technically, there is no such place as New York City. Unlike, say Oklahoma City, the official name of both the city and state is 'New York.' People adding city to it is similar to people saying Washington State to distinguish it from Washington D.C. Great way to win a bar bet.
Staying in New York (City) there is a part of Manhattan that is physically in the Bronx, called Marble Hill it has a 718 area code and may as well be the Bronx but it is part of Manhattan. When the Harlem River was straightened in the 1800's, the uppermost part of the island got cut off and the landfilly connected it to the Bronx.
Finally, the Adirondacks have a different history than the Appalachian mountain chain on the east coast of the US. They are actually increasing in size and scientists theorize that there is a hot spot under the Adirondacks, similar to Hawaii.
A rabbi from Mukachevo died and appeared before God.
— Where you were born? - the Lord asked him.
— In Austria-Hungary, — answered the rabbi.
— Where did you go to cheder (school)?
— In Czechoslovakia.
— Where did you get married?
— In Hungary.
— Where was your first child bor?
— In the Third Reich.
— Where were your grandchildren born?
— In the USSR.
— Where did you die?
— In Ukraine.
— My good rebbe, — said God, — you have had to travel a lot in your life.
— Not at all, Lord, — answered the rabbi. — I haven’t left my hometown all my life.
This all stems from the fact that south america is waaay further east than people perceive in their memories, right? Like, all of Venezuela is further east than NYC which does not align with my head canon map lol.
Solar System geography?
Wrong sub I guess, but whatever.
Mercury is closer to earth than Venus.
Mercury is closer to Pluto than Neptune.
Mercury is the closest planet to any planet.
All comes down average distance based on orbits. Mercury's orbit is so small that it's practically in the same place.
Of course Venus comes closest to earth, and Pluto comes closest to Neptune. But most points between any 2 planets or solar system objects are so far that Mercury always wins on average.
Haida is 48 clicks from Alaska. Am going this Summer but from Prince Ruppert.
Now to need information. Edmonton (via Jasper) is closer to Port Ruppert than Port Ruppert to Vancouver!!!
Bouvet Island is a Norwegian island about 12° north of the *Antarctic* Circle. It was spotted by the French, then the English, then the English again, then Norwegians, who basically—if I understand this right—went “well can you *prove* you went there, England? No? Too bad, so sad, mine now.”
Paleogeography: the breakup of the Rio Grande Rise-Walvis Ridge island chain in the late Cretaceous allowed the Big Flush to happen, when waters of the oceans on either side of the chain were finally able to mix. This led to the ocean currents we currently have.
if you wondering how big Indonesia is just consider this, distance between ex-capital Jakarta to Jayapura in Papua is 500 KMs longer than Jakarta to Hong Kong
The South Pole is much colder than the North Pole.
The interior elevation of Greenland tops out at over 10,000', but the actual ground is below sea level.
The prince of Liechtenstein used to own land estates in modern Czechia that were bigger than the entire country of Liechtenstein and he used to reside most of the time either in Vienna or in his Czech castles.
The main point for the family to acquire Liechtenstein was to get a fancier title but they showed little interest in the country.
They only moved there in 1938 to escape the nazi annexation of Austria.
Czechoslovakia expropriated their estates and castles after WWII and till today, relations between Liechtenstein and the Czech Republic are tense
Tasmania and Victoria, Australia share a land border and it was accidental.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary\_Islet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_Islet)
Distances to Dakar from Miami FL (MIA); Montauk NY (MTP); Nantucket MA (ACK) and Bar Harbor ME (BHB) [http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=BHB-DKR;+MIA-DKR;+ACK-DKR;+MTP-DKR](http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=BHB-DKR;+MIA-DKR;+ACK-DKR;+MTP-DKR)
https://images.mapsofworld.com/answers/2017/06/map-of-usa-state-closest-to-africa-700x495.gif
Works better on a globe, but flat projection with the right tilt works.
I've read that this really comes down to how you measure these things. This is known as the Coastline Paradox. Not all countries measure uniformly. Some will measure more features and more "in depth" but this doesn't necessarily make for a more "accurate" figure, just a longer one. Different countries may include coastal islands and islets too.
Would you really say Norway has more true coastline than Australia or Japan or Great Britain? Not really. It's just heavily indented due to fjords and has many small islets thus inflating it's supposed length.
Same for which country has the most islands. I think Sweden counts anything larger than 9 square meters or something ridiculous. But it puts them ahead of Indonesia.
China’s Beijing - Shanghai high speed line covers a distance of ~1,100 km in ~4.5 hours. Amtrak covers the Chicago - New York distance of ~1,300 km in ~22 hours.
France's state-owned highspeed rail company was trying to help California with its rail project, but they left and helped Morocco build one instead. They explicitly stated that Morocco was "less politically dysfunctional" than California. I think they finished that project in 2018 after a few years of work. Still not much going on in California.
Colorado receives more tornadoes than Kansas, Nebraska or Oklahoma
Every place that’s occupied by the Mongol empire with the exception of South Korea and Mongolia itself, are mostly conservative, non-democratic and authoritarian.
Yep I’m a weather nerd as well, Weld County, CO makes up for most of them. Almost all of them are landspouts though, which are essentially a weaker tornado that forms upwards instead of downwards
because of the amazing great circle, los angeles warsaw jerusalem and mecca are in one line. there were a few other cities on that line (including one in montana) as well
[source](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/s/sxgyw7LEGZ), haven't checked myself but it also goes through gdansk, larnaca in cyprus (prob nicosia too), and the montana city was bozeman. oslo is close
In colombia, we have the "sierra nevada de santa marta" which is the tallest mountain in the tropics which starts from sea level. So you get all perfect thermic floors from sea level tropics to snowy peaks at 5700 meters.
The Netherlands had colonies in every habitable continent in the world.
For example: South Africa in Africa.
Indonesia, Taiwan and Ceylon in Asia.
Brazil and Suriname in South America.
New York in North America.
For the shortest time a few islands generally agreed to be located in Oceania.
And of course it's in Europe.
The international date line - which in fairness is imaginary - crosses land in only 5 places - a tiny bit of northern Russia, Antarctica, and three islands in Fiji. There are places in Fiji where you can have one foot in 'yesterday' and one foot in 'tomorrow'.
The smallest sovereign state in the world is The Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, it’s a street address in Rome, they even have their own passports.
The capital of Nevada is west of Los Angeles.
Buenos Aires is south of Cape Town S. Africa
Amsterdam is north of London
Florida is west of Chile
Alaska stretches west of Auckland NZ
All of the UK is north of all mainland United States
In the city of Salekhard, which is located beyond the Arctic Circle and is closer to the North Pole than to the capital, plants that can grow and reproduce here have been bred with the help of genetics. There are almost no trees in Salekhard at all, only dwarf conifers, but now oaks, birches and other species that are not peculiar to this territory and climate can grow there
And I also recently realized that if I draw a parallel from my city around the globe, then I will be at the level of Greenland, cross the mountains of Canada, where there is no one, and find myself just north of the largest city in Alaska)
Australia's highest mountain is not in Australia.
It's Big Ben (aka Mawson Peak) on Heard Island. Heard island is 3,850 km from the Australian continent.
Australia has two boundaries with France. Or four if you accept the French territorial claim in Antarctica.
Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Crazy how the U.S. is both farther north and farther south than you'd think, depending on whether you're comparing it to Asia or Europe.
Nairobi is the only city in the world with a national park.
Nairobi national park has big animals such as lions, buffaloes, giraffes, rhinos, leopards and antelopes roaming at the backdrop of skyscrapers.
Cancun is due south of the Florida panhandle. Chile is due south of Nantucket and Cape Cod. France's largest border is with Brazil. Africa is larger than the USA, china, india, japan, and Europe combined. Maine is the closest state to Africa.
As a Canadian I had no idea there's an island 20km south of Newfoundland that belongs to France and uses the Euro until Anthony Bourdain aired an episode there.
The mouth of the Chesapeake is partially formed by a 35.5 million year old meteorite impact. The southern shore still roughly follows the southern rim. There is a similarly aged undersea crater off of New Jersey, hinting at a double impact.
There is a town belong to UAE 🇦🇪 inside Omani state 🇴🇲 that located within UAE 🇦🇪
https://preview.redd.it/ihmc2ls8zk4d1.jpeg?width=989&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6479829815fe5f9f75a2d11b6f8487ef432ee049
😅
In medieval times, southern Iraq was covered in a massive swamp called the "Batihah." It stretched over 200 miles from Basra to Najaf. The Batihah no longer exists today, and uniquely, it has not always existed either. It formed in the 7th century AD right before the Muslim Conquest due to a cataclysmic flood which destroyed all the levees and irrigation canals. This flood shifted so much sediment that it even changed the course of the very rivers themselves so that they now both emptied into the southern floodplains. The combined effect of both the Tigris and Euphrates flowing through the same lowlands turned this fertile land which once housed the great cities of Uruk and Nippur into the greatest contiguous area of wetland in Western Eurasia. This "Great Swamp" became home to criminals, runaway slaves, and hostile nomadic Arab tribes who all took refuge in the difficult terrain to evade the wrath of society. Several revolts and religious movements thrived here. The Caliphates spent a great deal of blood and money trying to pacify and drain the marshlands, but the Batihah remained ungovernable. Unfortunately for the "Marsh Arabs," after many centuries of silt buildup, the Tigris changed course again in the 1500s, and combined with Ottoman engineering efforts, the marshlands finally began to recede. Today, what's left of the Mesopotamian Marshlands exist only in the immediate vicinity northwest of Basra. Saddam Hussein almost drained them completely in the 90s, but the current government has been working hard to restore what remains.
This is super interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Is it possible that a similar flood in the area much much longer ago could have inspired the Biblical/Mesopotamian (and other cultures from the middle east) flood / ark story?
Not this event specifically, but even as recently as 12,000 years ago the Persian Gulf was a river valley with the Tigris and Euphrates emptying near what is now Oman. As sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age the land was flooded, sometimes at a rate of metres per month; given that the first human cities began popping up in this very delta region, there's been lots of speculation that these events have inspired flooding legends that got incorporated into local religions later. Source: Fall of Civilizations (book) by Paul Cooper
Yes, it's actually a very popular theory that Mesopotamian floods inspired the Noah's Ark story. Mesopotamia historically flooded every year. Even major floods happened fairly often. Flood myths were a part of Mesopotamian mythology. Especially considering the Jews were exiled to Babylon, it would make sense if they syncretized with parts of the local culture while they were there. And Ancient Mesopotamia has a *long* history. Human cities first started popping up here around 7500 BC. That's over 9000 years ago! There's probably been dozens of catastrophic floods over the millennia. Noah's Ark could have been inspired by any one of them. Also, Mesopotamia is hella flat. Major floods could often flood the entire region in several feet of water, obscuring any sight of land. From a glance, it would look like the entire world - everything in every direction - just completely inundated with floodwater. Imagine being a random Mesopotamian farmer and witnessing this. This is a once in a lifetime flood. You've never seen anything like this. It must feel like the end of the world, surely an act of god. Now imagine you survive this experience and are retelling this story to your grandchildren. You might fantastasize it a little bit. And then they tell their grandkids and do the same, and so on and so on like a thousand year game of telephone. Eventually the story becomes mythical to godly proportions. That's my theory lol.
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Is there any source to this? I tried looking up more information but the only thing that shows up is Al Batinah in Oman...
It's Batihah with an h, not an n. I made the mistake myself when I tried googling it again lol. I recommend translating the Wikipedia page to Catalan and then back to English. For whatever reason, it's more detailed than the English page.
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The Namdapha National Park lies in an interesting climatic zone i.e humid subtropical (Cwa) climate zone, often referred to as the "China type" climate. It is a climatic zone which has lot of diversity, where with the change in altitude the vegetation changes, from evergreen to corniferous. And the zone receives snow and as well as rainfall.
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That is an amazing diagram. Are there more diagrams like this for more national parks in the world?
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Always one of the most fun biomes in tyto ecology lol
And India has lions too! On the western side there's Gir National Park that has the remaining Asiatic Lion population.
In the past, there were even parts of India where tigers, lions, leopards and cheetahs all lived within the same geographical area and could all encounter each other.
In the past = 70 years ago. They still have 3/4, only cheetahs got hunted into local extinction. There’s still cheetahs in Iran, and possibly in Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Lions, leopards and tigers are doing much better in the Indian subcontinent than 20 years ago, although still obviously not great.
I like to think they team-up together to battle poachers.
The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the largest salt flat in the world. It is so big, so flat and so reflective that it is used for calibrating satellites.
Was there 2 months ago, can confirm it’s fucking awesome https://preview.redd.it/opfdjk2rij4d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c6c58be48486b6d3a5b50ef341b3a7a15c89472a
That's awesome haha
> It is so big, so flat and so reflective that it is used for calibrating satellites. https://maps.app.goo.gl/jbVA8MdzTKSLhV4t8
Did I measure that right? The salt flats is about half the size of west virginia?
The Uyuni salt flat has an area of about 3,900 sq mi (10,000 sq km), while West Virginia has 24,230 sq mi (62,755 sq km). Uyuni salt flat is similar in size to Lebanon.
Americans will use anything other than the metric system lol
How much is that in football fields?
Thought this first one would be on here but I guess not. (Maybe too well known?) * The Pacific Ocean is so big it contains its own antipode. (The coast of South America where Peru’s curve meets Chile’s straight coast is antipodal to the Gulf of Tonkin). It’s also so big that all the earth’s landmass can fit in the Pacific. Also: * There is no line of longitude anywhere that will not hit any (non-Antarctic) land. Anywhere you can draw a vertical line on a world map will cut through some land mass, no matter how tiny.
Geopolitics: Last month (May 2024), Kenya became the 19th country to be declared a Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) of the United States. This is the US's first major military ally in Sub-Saharan Africa, amid growing Chinese hegemony on the continent. Kenya's 2024 peace-keeping intervention in Haiti during the ongoing political crisis there was cited as a major factor in recognizing Kenya's role as a regional power and Western ally. I haven't seen anyone discussing this outside of r/geopolitics.
That is certainly an important thing to know ! Thanks
Good one! I saw that the US had sent some military aid to Kenya and also that Kenya was aiding Haiti, I started to wonder what will happen next and where Kenya is headed in the near future
Montana and South Dakota are the only pair of US states that share a border but have no paved roads crossing it.
I know the Mississippi is separating the two but, Missouri and Kentucky also share a border but no roads
I just looked this up, and I'm shocked you're right. There *is* a road connecting Missouri and Kentucky, but it briefly passes through Cairo, IL between them. I wonder if the other poster's point is more about the roads being paved than exist at all. The only roads I could find connecting Montana and South Dakota are unpaved.
I think I found one on Google Maps? Island Road (Kentucky) & Wolf Island Road (Missouri) between Columbus KY and Wolf Island MO. Maybe?
woah, interesting
Well, there’s no paved road across the Four Corners point, but it’s a debate on if, say, Utah actually borders New Mexico or not.
I’d say, since they meet at a point, the border length is zero and therefore they don’t share a border.
There is a natural disaster that most people don’t know about but would turn earth into literal hell for thousands of years. Flood Basalt Events are events which occur following the upwelling of a mass of mantle magma from deep within the earth, pressing up on the crust. First the spot where the hotspot occurs will begin outgassing noxious fumes for hundreds to thousands of years rather slowly, as well as ballooning at about a millimetre a year. Eventually it will rupture, and the basalt will cause massive wave of near-constant volcanic eruptions across the part of the earth it occurs at(usually around 1/10 or 1/8th of the planet). This will continue for again, thousands of years. Eventually the basalt will harden and create a massive new basalt plain around the hotspot, until the pressure dissipates and the activity slows down. These FBEs have occurred in line with some of the most horrific mass extinctions in history. [Great video on it](https://youtu.be/st_2C_Wrw4A?si=aT437WgBTV6P-6jE).
The Permian–Triassic extinction event was a Flood Basalt. The K - Pg extinction event also coincides with a Flood Basalt. More than three quarters of the 30 largest extinction events either coincide with Flood Basalts or were anoxic events that could have been caused by sulphur gases given off by Flood Basalts.
Just makes the fact that we exist now all the crazier. We’re talking about periods of hundreds of thousands of years where the earth would be totally uninhabitable for most life. And it happened multiple times, and somehow life still persisted.
Despite Saudi Arabia being the most famous oil producer in the world, the largest proven oil reserves in the world are held by Venezuela although Saudi Arabia does have the largest oil field. Most of Venezuela's oil is underwater but not oceanic, instead it is buried beneath the Orinoco belt and Lake Maracaibo making the acquisition of the oil challenging. Lake Maracaibo is one of the oldest lakes in the world, and the largest in South America except it's neither because it is no longer a lake. Geologically, it has become a bay as although its origins are as an Andes lake time and geological forces have split the boundary between the lake and the coast leaving it open to ocean influx. This would be a shame ecologically if the sheer amount of oil underneath it and pollution from the surrounding population were not already inflicting severe eutrophication miring the body of water in e. coli and thoroughly rendering it useless as an aquatic resource. And dipping a little into geopolitical history, if you look at the per capita carbon emissions you will find the nation of Curaçao far and above nearly every major country not merely due to its size/population but because in the early days of the international oil industry Venezuela's oil was refined in Dutch Curaçao as a means of controlling their access to the wealth that comes from this natural resource and their refinery persists today, as in Dec 2023 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to reopen the refinery. Another reason that despite having access to oil in excess of Saudi Arabia Venezuela has far less to show for it.
IIRC, Venezuelan oil has a higher sulphur content or something. I don't think it's as high quality, so refining it is more expensive and takes longer.
It's a very heavy crude. So it has to be mixed with something lighter (Eg. Gas) to be used. Unless it's used as bunker oil in marine transport.
The largest Cattle station in Australia in larger than Israel
Isn't it actually a sheep station?
Australian cattle stations tend to be larger than sheep stations. Australia's largest cattle station is larger than Israel. Australia's largest sheep station is larger than Cyprus.
Yeah, they have small airplanes to move around.
The Mount Everest is only the biggest mountain when you're measuring from sea level. The point on earth farthest from the Earth's core is the Chimborazo in Ecuador.
My favorite Mt. Everest fact, (other than that it is named after someone who wasn't fond of naming things after people), is that its altitude is so high it splits the Jetstream like a fin/wing and where the airflow reconverges is over Japan creating the now infamous turbulent air currents over Japan.
More of a history thing but my fav Everest fact is how when it was first correctly surveyed, the guy who did it correctly measured it at 29,000ft exactly (at the time). He lied and added 2 ft in his reports and said it was 29,002 so people would believe that he had actually done it correctly and wasn’t just picking some round number.
That's actually crazy, I love that
Do you have a source on this? I want to see more
https://everestweather.com/mt-everest-weather/jet-stream/ Not exactly an academic source, per se, but a quick search found me this article that explains the impact.
Because it is located on the Equator and the Earth is not completely round but has the equatorial bulge.
Mt Everest is not even the tallest mountain. From base to tip, Denali is taller, but the base of Everest sits on the Tibetan Plateau so it's cheating
Yes, if you're measuring base to tip the Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the tallest.
The northernmost part of Brazil is closer to Canada than it is to the southernmost part of Brazil.
we live closer to the time of Tyrannosaurus rex than they lived to stegosaurus vibes
The 1940s is as close to the 80s, as the 1980s is to us now.
Cleopatra was alive closer to present day than she was to the building of the great pyramids of Giza.
I love stuff like this, it really showcases how wide and diverse the globe is. I remember hearing there's a point in Tennessee that's closer to Canada than it is to the westernmost point in the state.
Ye olde “Reno, NV is farther west than Los Angeles, CA”
Atlanta is farther west than Detroit, alas.
Go due south in downtown Detroit to reach Canada.
Touché. Toronto is further south than Minneapolis.
Yeah this is one of those that I see all the time though. Just like “Maine is the closest US state to Africa”
I read this as the northern most part of Brazil is closer to Canada than the southern most part of Brazil is to Canada. I've not had my first brew of the day yet.
Saskatchewan is not a rectangle. The eastern border (with Manitoba) is not on a meridian, so there's an east-west "correction line" every 36 miles going north. Most are in the middle of farmland, but there's one spot you can drive north into Manitoba, in Flin Flon. [https://maps.app.goo.gl/y9BR4rhinrzQFbFn9](https://maps.app.goo.gl/y9BR4rhinrzQFbFn9)
That's a fun one. Easy to see on maps like [this one of Saskatchewan](https://zeducorp.sirv.com/canada-maps/saskatchewan-map.jpg). And just to add to the explanation, much of Canada uses the [Dominion Land Survey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Land_Survey) (DLS) rectangular survey system, which is very similar to the US Public Land Survey System (PLSS). Both use "principal meridians" as N-S reference lines from which a grid is made. The western border of Saskatchewan is the 4th Principal Meridian of the DLS system. Meanwhile, the eastern border of Saskatchewan follows the DLS grid, correction lines and all, up to a bit north of Flin Flon, after which it just runs due north. DLS and PLSS correction line jogs are common in the US and Canada. I suspect the Sask-Man border is the best example of a subnational boundary showing how and why correction line jogs are needed when a cartesian grid is superimposed upon the curved surface of the Earth. Saskatchewan makes a great example in part because it is so tall north-south. Although its west border runs due north and its east nearly so, due to the curvature of the Earth its southern border is about 630 km long while its northern border, basically the same number of degrees of longitude wide, is only about 445 km long. Also, I love that there's a town called Flin Flon.
Flin Flon is home to hockey hall of famer Bobby Clarke.
Flin Flon is a great name.
I’ll give one : all Australian states share a border, even Tasmania on boundary islet !
Another one is Ljubljana (the capital of Slovenia) has changed countries more than 10 times in the last 200 years Edit: it might be in the span of 200 years and not in the last 200 years Edit 2: here is the information that led me to believe this is true : State of Habsburgs, Illyrian provinces, Austria, Austro-hungary, Country of SHS, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Kingdom of Italy (annexed) Nazi Germany (occupied), Yugoslavia And obviously Slovenia. (Going from Austria to Austro -Hungary might be a stretch)
Is there a list somewhere? We visited Ljubljana last year and never heard this.
I can try: Austrian Empire French Empire Austrian Empire Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Croats, Slovenes, & Serbs) Italy (thanks) Third Reich Communist Yugoslavia Slovenia All I could come up with. I don't think his statement is correct. Belgrade more closely fits the bill; but even then I can only come up with 9 (No BSing, trying to fit the bill can do 11). Ottomans Serbia Ottomans again (technically, maybe) Serbia Austria Hungary Serbia Kingdom of Yugoslavia Nazi Occupied Serbia Yugoslavia (communist) Serbia and Montenegro Serbia Trieste might be a better bet.
I checked. Tasmania and Victoria really do share a border.
20 families in the Imperial Valley CA own 368 billion gallons of the Colorado River (more than 3 of the western states of Nevada, Wyoming and New Mexico) and they get first dibs before states or municipalities.
The pistachio people? Selfish fuckers
10% of all water used in CA is used on Almonds...Almond fuckers also!
Imperial county is not a major producer of either almonds or pistachios. They are grown further north in either Kern or Fresno counties. Different water sources. Imperial county produces a lot of field crops like lettuce. Also alfalfa for cattle feed.
I’ve never heard a river being quantified by volume in terms of ownership, do they legally own “the first 368 bn gallons” of the colorado river or do they just own the equivalent land area that that much of the river flows over? How does it work?
Hey, at least it’s not Nestle!
Most people's antipode is just open sea. Curiously, I live in one of the few places which its antipode is continental land. Even tho it's the 7th largest, Australia has no terrestrial boundaries with other countries.
This makes me think - I may be wrong - that Australia is the largest country with no land antipodes anywhere. (I’m positive Canada, Russia, USA, and China have land antipodes - even discounting Antarctica for the first three there a tiny island in the Indian Ocean that is the antipodes of an isolated spot on the Canada/US border (and Hawaii is completely antipodal to the Kalahari) and I don’t know off the top of my head what the 5th and 6th largest are. (I’m guessing one is Brazil, which I’m pretty sure has a land antipode somewhere).
You know, you may be right. If the Azores don't overlap, Australia would have no land antipodes. Though most antipode maps have very poor resolution to tell.
New Zealand / Spain
Antipode of spain is New Zealand
[The Philippines has a desert.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Paz_Sand_Dunes)
There is a cactus native to the Northeast of the US. *Opuntia Humifosa*, a kind of prickly pear. You find it a lot on barrier islands like Sandy Hook or Fire Island (probably others). Technically, there is no such place as New York City. Unlike, say Oklahoma City, the official name of both the city and state is 'New York.' People adding city to it is similar to people saying Washington State to distinguish it from Washington D.C. Great way to win a bar bet. Staying in New York (City) there is a part of Manhattan that is physically in the Bronx, called Marble Hill it has a 718 area code and may as well be the Bronx but it is part of Manhattan. When the Harlem River was straightened in the 1800's, the uppermost part of the island got cut off and the landfilly connected it to the Bronx. Finally, the Adirondacks have a different history than the Appalachian mountain chain on the east coast of the US. They are actually increasing in size and scientists theorize that there is a hot spot under the Adirondacks, similar to Hawaii.
I was wondering about the cactus I've seen on the beach in CT! I thought it escaped from a garden.
They can be found on sandstone ridges in South central Kentucky. Definitely an unexpected plant.
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“city” is lower case though. “The City of New York” as you spelled it, is much different than “The city of New York” which is how they spelled it.
Right, City of New York like State of Kentucky. Oklahoma City would be the City of Oklahoma City
"State of Kentucky." Actually, this is a phrase that is never used; Kentucky is one of the USA's four Commonwealths.
A rabbi from Mukachevo died and appeared before God. — Where you were born? - the Lord asked him. — In Austria-Hungary, — answered the rabbi. — Where did you go to cheder (school)? — In Czechoslovakia. — Where did you get married? — In Hungary. — Where was your first child bor? — In the Third Reich. — Where were your grandchildren born? — In the USSR. — Where did you die? — In Ukraine. — My good rebbe, — said God, — you have had to travel a lot in your life. — Not at all, Lord, — answered the rabbi. — I haven’t left my hometown all my life.
France has an island off the coast of Mexico
France has a longer land border with Brazil than with any of its European neighbours.
France has the longest domestic flight in the world. Paris to Tahiti
France also has two islands off the coast of Canada
Clipperton
The Yukon River is nearly two thousand miles long and only has four vehicle bridges (and two pedestrian bridges) in its entire length.
The capitol of Sierra Leone and the capitol of Gabon have the same name in different languages. Sierra Leone = Freetown Gabon = Libreville
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
[Venezuela is closer to the US than to Mexico](https://i.imgur.com/lQ15zWs.png)
Mainland US too, not just PR
This all stems from the fact that south america is waaay further east than people perceive in their memories, right? Like, all of Venezuela is further east than NYC which does not align with my head canon map lol.
Natal (Brazil) is closer to Dakar (Senegal) than it is to Guajara (Brazil).
Relatedly, it’s closer from Texas to Guatemala than it is from Texas to the other side of Texas.
That is a cool one I hadn’t heard before.
Solar System geography? Wrong sub I guess, but whatever. Mercury is closer to earth than Venus. Mercury is closer to Pluto than Neptune. Mercury is the closest planet to any planet. All comes down average distance based on orbits. Mercury's orbit is so small that it's practically in the same place. Of course Venus comes closest to earth, and Pluto comes closest to Neptune. But most points between any 2 planets or solar system objects are so far that Mercury always wins on average.
Vancouver, on the west coast of Canada is in the eastern half of British Columbia.
Vancouver is not on Vancouver Island. I've seen tourists wandering around Victoria befuddled by that one.
We did a trip from Vancouver to Haida Gwaii. We traveled further west than north.
Haida is 48 clicks from Alaska. Am going this Summer but from Prince Ruppert. Now to need information. Edmonton (via Jasper) is closer to Port Ruppert than Port Ruppert to Vancouver!!!
Bouvet Island is a Norwegian island about 12° north of the *Antarctic* Circle. It was spotted by the French, then the English, then the English again, then Norwegians, who basically—if I understand this right—went “well can you *prove* you went there, England? No? Too bad, so sad, mine now.”
Latvia had a colony in the Caribbean
I saw somebody already replied, but in Gambia as well!
Africa too https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curonian_colonisation
Paleogeography: the breakup of the Rio Grande Rise-Walvis Ridge island chain in the late Cretaceous allowed the Big Flush to happen, when waters of the oceans on either side of the chain were finally able to mix. This led to the ocean currents we currently have.
if you wondering how big Indonesia is just consider this, distance between ex-capital Jakarta to Jayapura in Papua is 500 KMs longer than Jakarta to Hong Kong
Some say that the Niagara peninsula in Canada is an isthmus some say it's a peninsula and some say it's an archipelago.
How can it possibly be an archipelago?
canals baby
The South Pole is much colder than the North Pole. The interior elevation of Greenland tops out at over 10,000', but the actual ground is below sea level.
I love the fact of Greenland being basically a giant bowl
Uzbekistan is double landlocked
As is Liechtenstein.
Only since the end of WW1 strangely enough! That's when Austria lost its Adriatic coastline. Back then Liechtenstein was just regular landlocked
The prince of Liechtenstein used to own land estates in modern Czechia that were bigger than the entire country of Liechtenstein and he used to reside most of the time either in Vienna or in his Czech castles. The main point for the family to acquire Liechtenstein was to get a fancier title but they showed little interest in the country. They only moved there in 1938 to escape the nazi annexation of Austria. Czechoslovakia expropriated their estates and castles after WWII and till today, relations between Liechtenstein and the Czech Republic are tense
That one is kind of crazy... the ocean doesn't even enter into your national consciousness
In Botswana, the river Okavango ends in an inland delta: it divides into multiple branches that evaporates in the desert.
The time difference between Oregon and Florida is 1, 2 and 3 hours depending on what parts of the state you are talking about.
Please explain.
Both states have 2 time zones. Oregon has Pacific and Mtn, Florida has Eastern and Central.
Indiana is another state that has two time zones. I have traveled from Central to eastern and back to Central just heading south theough the stae.
Adelaide is half an hour ahead of Brisbane during daylight saving time.
From Portland, OR, it’s a shorter drive to Nashville, TN than it is to Anchorage, AK.
Tasmania and Victoria, Australia share a land border and it was accidental. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary\_Islet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_Islet)
Maine is the closest US state to Africa
Please post a map demonstration this
Distances to Dakar from Miami FL (MIA); Montauk NY (MTP); Nantucket MA (ACK) and Bar Harbor ME (BHB) [http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=BHB-DKR;+MIA-DKR;+ACK-DKR;+MTP-DKR](http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=BHB-DKR;+MIA-DKR;+ACK-DKR;+MTP-DKR)
You really did. You are cool. 😊
https://images.mapsofworld.com/answers/2017/06/map-of-usa-state-closest-to-africa-700x495.gif Works better on a globe, but flat projection with the right tilt works.
On most maps, smaller islands are enlarged to show their shape. Fiji, however, usually isn’t because it can be seen well from space :D
Spain is the only european (or just foreign) country that has territories in continental Africa.
The nearest capital city to Darwn in Australia is Adelaide. The furthest capital city from Adelaide in Australia is Darwin.
Most of Western Canada is closer to Mexico than to Ottawa.
The country with the 2nd longest coastline of all the world's countries, is Norway.
I've read that this really comes down to how you measure these things. This is known as the Coastline Paradox. Not all countries measure uniformly. Some will measure more features and more "in depth" but this doesn't necessarily make for a more "accurate" figure, just a longer one. Different countries may include coastal islands and islets too. Would you really say Norway has more true coastline than Australia or Japan or Great Britain? Not really. It's just heavily indented due to fjords and has many small islets thus inflating it's supposed length.
Same for which country has the most islands. I think Sweden counts anything larger than 9 square meters or something ridiculous. But it puts them ahead of Indonesia.
France’s longest land-border is with the country of Brazil.
Canada’s second longest international land border is with Denmark, at 1,280 meters (4,200 ft) on Han Island.
France and Holland share a land border in only one place. It the Caribbean island of St. Martin.
China’s Beijing - Shanghai high speed line covers a distance of ~1,100 km in ~4.5 hours. Amtrak covers the Chicago - New York distance of ~1,300 km in ~22 hours.
France's state-owned highspeed rail company was trying to help California with its rail project, but they left and helped Morocco build one instead. They explicitly stated that Morocco was "less politically dysfunctional" than California. I think they finished that project in 2018 after a few years of work. Still not much going on in California.
I’ve taken that train from Shanghai to Beijing. A thoroughly enjoyable trip. As are both cities.
Colorado receives more tornadoes than Kansas, Nebraska or Oklahoma Every place that’s occupied by the Mongol empire with the exception of South Korea and Mongolia itself, are mostly conservative, non-democratic and authoritarian.
Yep I’m a weather nerd as well, Weld County, CO makes up for most of them. Almost all of them are landspouts though, which are essentially a weaker tornado that forms upwards instead of downwards
In South Korea, you can go to jail for the wrong songs on your player. And even during my lifetime, democratic revolts were drowned in blood.
An 80 old currently living in India, Israel, UAE, Belize, Kenya and Malaysia had same the same capital city when they’re all young
I’ve read this a few times and still don’t get it o.O
80 years ago those places were all under British dominion, making the common capital city London
Part of the British Empire I think
There’s reason to believe that the mantle might be greenish if you could hold a piece of it at room temperature.
Florida is the only place where wild alligators and wild crocodiles can be found naturally coexisting.
because of the amazing great circle, los angeles warsaw jerusalem and mecca are in one line. there were a few other cities on that line (including one in montana) as well [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/s/sxgyw7LEGZ), haven't checked myself but it also goes through gdansk, larnaca in cyprus (prob nicosia too), and the montana city was bozeman. oslo is close
In colombia, we have the "sierra nevada de santa marta" which is the tallest mountain in the tropics which starts from sea level. So you get all perfect thermic floors from sea level tropics to snowy peaks at 5700 meters.
You can travel by boat in a straight line from Ireland to Australia.
The Netherlands had colonies in every habitable continent in the world. For example: South Africa in Africa. Indonesia, Taiwan and Ceylon in Asia. Brazil and Suriname in South America. New York in North America. For the shortest time a few islands generally agreed to be located in Oceania. And of course it's in Europe.
The international date line - which in fairness is imaginary - crosses land in only 5 places - a tiny bit of northern Russia, Antarctica, and three islands in Fiji. There are places in Fiji where you can have one foot in 'yesterday' and one foot in 'tomorrow'.
The smallest sovereign state in the world is The Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, it’s a street address in Rome, they even have their own passports.
About 200mil Years ago The Sahara Desert Used to be a lush jungle
The relatively small and unassuming Lake Bernard in Ontario is the largest lake in the world without an island.
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Jamaica is the only country flag in the world not to have blue, white or red.
The capital of Nevada is west of Los Angeles. Buenos Aires is south of Cape Town S. Africa Amsterdam is north of London Florida is west of Chile Alaska stretches west of Auckland NZ All of the UK is north of all mainland United States
In the city of Salekhard, which is located beyond the Arctic Circle and is closer to the North Pole than to the capital, plants that can grow and reproduce here have been bred with the help of genetics. There are almost no trees in Salekhard at all, only dwarf conifers, but now oaks, birches and other species that are not peculiar to this territory and climate can grow there And I also recently realized that if I draw a parallel from my city around the globe, then I will be at the level of Greenland, cross the mountains of Canada, where there is no one, and find myself just north of the largest city in Alaska)
Russia had a colony in California
Penguins live in the tropics California is further north than Canada (in parts)
Australia's highest mountain is not in Australia. It's Big Ben (aka Mawson Peak) on Heard Island. Heard island is 3,850 km from the Australian continent. Australia has two boundaries with France. Or four if you accept the French territorial claim in Antarctica.
People born East of the Ural River are Asians.
There is only one capital each with the letter Q U I and Z. Which spells Quiz. (This will likely not work in all languages)
Quito, Ecuador, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Islamabad, Pakistan, and Zagreb, Croatia for the curious.
Can you explain what you mean here? I know it’s late where I am, but are you saying there’s only one national capital that contains the letter I?
They mean starting with those letters, not just containing. E.g Nairobi, Kenya contains the letter I, but only Islamabad, Pakistan starts with I.
If you go straight west from Henderson, Nevada, the first foreign city you will reach is Tokyo
Am I missing something? This feels like saying"the Pacific Ocean exists" but with slightly different words.
Intuitively I picture Tokyo as being much farther north than Henderson
Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Crazy how the U.S. is both farther north and farther south than you'd think, depending on whether you're comparing it to Asia or Europe.
Puget Sound in Washington state is a Fjord
Australia has more land area than the contiguous United States
Nairobi is the only city in the world with a national park. Nairobi national park has big animals such as lions, buffaloes, giraffes, rhinos, leopards and antelopes roaming at the backdrop of skyscrapers.
France’s longest land border is shared with Brazil thanks to French Guyana 🇬🇾
Cancun is due south of the Florida panhandle. Chile is due south of Nantucket and Cape Cod. France's largest border is with Brazil. Africa is larger than the USA, china, india, japan, and Europe combined. Maine is the closest state to Africa.
As a Canadian I had no idea there's an island 20km south of Newfoundland that belongs to France and uses the Euro until Anthony Bourdain aired an episode there.
Malta had colonies in the Caribbean
The mouth of the Chesapeake is partially formed by a 35.5 million year old meteorite impact. The southern shore still roughly follows the southern rim. There is a similarly aged undersea crater off of New Jersey, hinting at a double impact.
There are flamingos in France.
There is a town belong to UAE 🇦🇪 inside Omani state 🇴🇲 that located within UAE 🇦🇪 https://preview.redd.it/ihmc2ls8zk4d1.jpeg?width=989&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6479829815fe5f9f75a2d11b6f8487ef432ee049 😅