Geography fun facts and oddities

Geography fun facts & oddities

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Geography fun facts[edit | edit source]

Pitcaren Islands in Polynesia, are the least populated political entity in the world (67 residents)
- Vatican City, for example, has 825 residents
Rio de la Plata is the widest river in the world (max width: 140 mi)
- the Rio de la Plata is considered a river, estuary, gulf or "marginal sea"
- it is fed by the Uruguay and Parana rivers at Punta Gorda ("fat point"

- this 5.8 magnitude earthquake, centered in Louisa County, Virginia, was felt as frar as New England, Canada, Michigan and Alabama and Florida
- the reason the tremors were so widely felt is that the U.S. East Coast has extensive bedrock that transmits shock waves across extensive distances, whereas less geologically stable areas do not transmit shock waves as far.
See [Virginia earthquake, 2011 (wiki)]

- - three Native American sisters who died crossing the river there while trying to rescue their brothers who had been kidnapped by another tribe
  - three Native American sisters who were banished to the islands after refusing the husbands selected for them by their father; the sisters cursed the spot, which is said to make an eerie sound whenever the River is about to take a life
  - a 1925 novel included a story about three nuns who drowned at the spot

- a 130 ft high granite rock in Wyoming that sticks up out of the prairie
- located at the southeast end of the Granite Mountains
- served as a landmark for 19th century western settlers, some of whom carved their names on the rock and some of which are still visible

- a butte formation in Wyoming that abruptly juts out of the landscape 1,267 ft high
- the name comes from an English misinterpretation of the Native American name for it
  - the native name is "bear's house" (among others) and was understood in English by a US Army expedition leader as "Bad God's Tower," thus "Devil's Tower"
  - a Native American legend of its origin is that young girls where chased by bears, and their prayers for salvation were answered by the "Great Spirit" by lifting the rock they sat upon into the air, out of reach from the bears, whose claws scratched marks into the sides of the rock while trying to reach them.
See [Devil's Tower (wiki)]

sinkholes are holes or caves in the ground caused by erosion or a collapse of a lower, below-ground surface, usually because of water drainage
sinkholes may also be caused by a drainage of water, such as a water table decline
sinkholes are most common where limestone, sandstone, salt beds, or gypsum are prevalent

Thor's Well: a sinkhole on the coast of Cape Perpetua, Oregon, that drains at high tides

Golly Hole in Shelby County is considered the largest sinkhole in the US.
- it is 325 ft long, 300 ft wide, and 120 ft deep
source: [What is the largest sinkhole in the United States? (usgs.gov)]
See
- [Sinkhole (wiki)]

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclave_and_exclave
enclave = a country or territory that is entirely surrounded by another country or territory
- "enclave" is derived from the Latin inclavare for "to close with a key," meaning one property that is entirely surrounded by another proprerty
- nation state enclaves:
click on EXPAND to see list of nation state enclaves:

exclave = a territory or part of a country that is separated from the main country or territory
examples

Africa

Algeria is the largest country in Africa
The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa
- The Gambia is a semi-enclave surrounded by Senegal and the Atlantic Ocean
Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa, including islands
Nigeria has the highest population in Africa
- Ethiopia as the 2nd highest population
Djibouti has the lowest population in mainland Africa
Seychelles has the lowest population in Africa among independent nations (territories excluded) and including island states
Saint Helena the lowest population in Africa, including island states and semi-independent territories
- Seychelles has the second lowest population in Africa, including island states and territories

Asia

Australia

Australia is the largest and the smallest country in Australia
- Australia is the only country to entirely occupy a continent

United States

northernmost state in the continental U.S.: Minnesota
northernmost point in the continental U.S.: Northwest Angle, Minnesota, known as "The Angle"
Click EXPAND to read more about the Northwest Angle:

- when negotiating the US-Canadian border following the American Revolution (Treaty of Paris, 1783), negotiators used an inaccurate map of the border of present-day Minnesota and Canada, and thereby included the northwest portion of the Lake of the Woods as the border, while it actually lies within Canadian territory
- thus The Angle is one of six "practical exclaves" of the U.S., as it is only accessible by land via Canada
- in 2010, it's population was 119
- see: Northwest Angle (wiki)

[[File:Marianatrenchmap.png|right|200px|thumb|Location of the Mariana Trench (wiki)

- - - located in the South Pacific Ocean, deepest landform on earth
    - 1,580 mi long, 43 mi wide, max depth 36,201 ft
highest spot on earth:
- Mt Everest: 29,031.7 ft